Renedy free-kick gives Bagan victory

Riding on skipper Renedy Singh's magical free-kick goal, Mohun Bagan prevailed over Tollygunge Agragami 1-0 in a lacklustre Kolkata Super Division football league match on Tuesday.

Rennedy, the livewire of the Bagan midfield, scored the winner with a power-packed 35 yard kick which whizzed past Tollgunge goalkeeper Chinmoy Banerjee and landed into the net, in the second minute of the second-half.

With two wins from as many matches, Bagan now have six points. Tollygunge, who played their third game, are on two points.

Playing on their home ground, Bagan looked far more superior to their rivals, and enjoyed territorial advantage for most of the 90 minutes.

However, the Bagan players relied heavily on diagonal and square passes, and that thwarted their advance on several occasions.

Still Bagan could have taken the lead in the first-half itself, but for their forwards' poor marskmanship and the confident display of goalkeeper Banerjee, considered one of the most promising youngsters in Kolkata football, thwarted them. 

Banerjee, who battled succesfully with the dreaded disease leukaemia to return to soccer, flung himself into the air to collect a Rennedy corner after blocking an Asim Biswas left footer in the first-half.

But minutes later he made his only blemish of the session as he failed to hold on to a shot by a Bagan player, and the ball slipped out of his hands.

However, Tollygunge escaped as there was no Bagan player in sight to capitalise on the advantage.

Tollygunge, on the other hand, were hamstrung by the absence of several key players including medios Amit Das and Ajoy Singh. While Das had to sit out following a double booking, Ajoy missed the match due to injury.

But the experienced Kajol Bhattacharjee, who played as a defensive screen, served Tollygunge well, time and again cutting off the Bagan attacks.

Coached by Bagan discard Subrata Bhattacharya, the Tollygunge boys tried hard for the equaliser in the second-half, and came near to scoring in the 53rd minute when Prakash Kolay unelashed a rasping snap shot, but rival custodian Imran Khan saved the situation.