Lalkamal earns Bagan a place in final

Kolkata, Dec 13 (UNI) A lone strike from Lalkamal Bhowmick settled the issue in favour of Mohun Bagan who moved into the final of 112th IFA Shield defeating Sporting Club de Goa here today.

Bhowmick did well to follow up a Dharamjit Singh cross from the left and tap the ball home, 20 minutes into the second half.

But one can blame Sporting Clube de Goa defender Wilton Gomes, who made a mess out of what could have been an easy clearing.

But Mohun Bagan's party was spoiled later when Brazilian Eduardo Coelho was shown the red card by referee S Suresh. Eduardo who will miss the final on Friday, was involved in a fisticuff with Sporting captain Dudu Omagbemi at the touchline, after the referee had blown the final whistle.

Earlier in the 15th minute, Baichung Bhutia squandered a golden opportunity after a Mehtab Hussain through ball had found him in the open.

But his effort from the top of the box was wide off the target.

Seven minutes later the pofligacy continued, only this time the culprit was Jose Ramirez Baretto.

Sporting got their first chance of the match, a minute after the half-hour mark. But Nicolau Borges' header came off the cross bar.

The introduction of Subhash Chakroborty in the second half brought some life in Mohun Bagan's wing play and in the 65th minute Bhowmick scored the all-important goal. In the 80th minute, Rajesh Meetei tried his luck, but Mohun Bagan custodian Sangram Mukherjee easily collected his long-ranger.

Dudu also produced a moment of individual brilliance in the 88th minute, when he chest-trapped a long ball and unleashed a powerful volley on the half turn. But Mukherjee was equal for the task.

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