Ratings: Petratos, Colaco help Mohun Bagan ease past arch-rivals East Bengal

The Mariners scored all of their goals in the first-half.

Mohun Bagan stormed into the top of the Indian Super League (ISL) 2023-24 table with a comprehensive 3-1 win over rivals East Bengal at the Salt Lake Stadium on Sunday. A dramatic first-half’s events ended up deciding the game, with East Bengal skipper Cleiton Silva missing a penalty in the 14th minute – and the Mariners made them pay for it.

Jason Cummings (27’) and Liston Colaco (36’) both scored close-range goals before a Dimitri Petratos penalty (45’) helped Mohun Bagan take a 3-0 lead. Saul Crespo scored an impressive goal in 54th minute but the Red & Gold Brigade failed to do much beyond that. Here are the player ratings for the game.

East Bengal (By Riddhiman Sarkar)

Prabhsukhan Singh Gill – 6

Letdown by his defenders more than his errors but an inability to thwart a weak penalty made him worse than his Mohun Bagan counterpart.

Chungnunga – 6

The Torchbearers best defender by a mile as he was running his socks off making tackles and bombing up on attacks. Went off for Sayan Banerjee to enter with a pulled knee muscle at half-time after completing two tackles out of three.

Aleksander Pantic – 4.5

Caught ball-watching as he failed to pick up Jason Cummings when Gill parried a shot and the Australian pounced on it to open the scoring. Once again at fault as he left Liston to ghost in behind him. Eventually picked up a yellow and finished the game with one aerial and one ground challenge won.

Hijazi Mehar- 5.5

Did nothing to help out his partner but picked up the scraps in the second half defending valiantly and winning four ground duels.

Nishu Kumar – 6.5

Nishu was more effective in the opposition half with three attempted crosses but managed to do some excellent front-foot defending as well with eight tackles won out of 10. 

Souvik Chakraborty – 6.5

Averaged 73% passing accuracy as he was pivotal in helping his side regain some control, allowing them to retain possession in intricate passing moves. Went off in the 90th minute for the returning Harmanjot Khabra.

Ajay Chhetri- 6

Fell prey to flared tempers as he conceded a foolish early yellow in the aftermath of the penalty incident. His failure to display maturity at the other end saw him eventually get injured, giving way to Vishnu PV at halftime with a mere 12 touches on the ball and one take-on completed.

Naorem Mahesh Singh- 6.5

Silky dribbling to get out of tight spaces and immaculate distribution made him a threat operating in both halves. Mahesh managed to deliver five out of his six longballs and generated one key pass.

Saul Crespo – 7

Crespo’s desperate attempts to slow down the tempo of the game were thwarted by the opposition physically besting with both legally and illegally. Took a brilliant delivery from Cleiton in his stride and struck it even better to reduce the arrears as he went off in the 85th minute for Felicio Brown having completed an interception and a tackle.

Cleiton Silva – 6.5

The Brazilian predator pounced early drawing a dive from Vishal Kaith in the 12th minute with his blistering pace but failed to convert the resultant spot-kick. Redeemed himself somewhat as he set up Saul for East Bengal’s first with a laser-guided cross, while also averaging the highest number of sprints in the game for his side(12) and the top speed (29.9 kmph).

Nandhakumar Sekar – 5.5

Had to drop all the way to the box and a bad day at the office turned to worst as he tripped Liston in the box to concede a penalty. No central service saw him starved of chances as he failed to make a mark with only one big chance created.

Substitutes

Sayan Banerjee- 6.5

Good outing for the youngster who seemed to follow his manager’s instructions down to the T as he got a 70% tackling success rate and a good 40 touches on the ball.

Vishnu PV – 6.5

Showcased effective dribbling and attempted some ambitiously acrobatic finishing, delighting the crowd with every kick. Had a penalty claim waived off as a dive, getting booked controversially as Abhishek seemed to clearly miss the ball and kick him down in the box.

Felicio Brown Forbes- 6

Completed one take on but didn’t have much to do. 

Harmanjot Khabra- N/A

The returning veteran’s only highlight would be more metaphorical than positive as he was left on the ground tugging Sadiku’s shirt in a desperate bid to stop him after he got outmuscled by the striker.

Mohun Bagan (by Uttiyo Sarkar)

Vishal Kaith – 7.5

Kaith made a silly error in conceding the penalty by barging down Cleiton, but made up with a brilliant save to keep his side motivated. Then made a sensational save to deny Cleiton again in the second half. At his sharpest in the goal.

Anwar Ali – 6.5

Anwar was a calm and assertive figure at the back, reading the moves well to neutralize a number of attacks he made four clearances, two tackles and three possession recoveries in a pretty decent showing.

Hector Yuste – 5.0

Yuste was horribly caught napping by Cleiton before his penalty, but was fortunate to see Vishal save it. Couldn’t really hold together a strong enough defensive line in the second half, failing to make any tackle or win any ground duel.

Subashish Bose – 6.5

Subashish was the busiest of all the Mohun Bagan defenders and reacted well to trouble, making three tackles, six clearances and winning 7/10duels. But he poorly played Saul onside and failed to stop him from scoring.

Manvir Singh – 6.0

Worked really hard in the wide areas, moving the ball forward nicely in the transitions and creating two chances. He covered a lot of ground and also put in decent defensive work.

Abhishek Suryavanshi – 7.5

Abhishek proved why Habas keeps playing him with a really composed, efficient performance in the derby. He moved the ball along and was busy defensively, making four tackles, six interceptions and six possession recoveries – shielding his backline impressively. Bit lucky not to concede a late penalty.

Joni Kauko – 7.0

Kauko was a nice linking factor in the midfield, moving the ball forward really nicely and also created three goal-scoring chances. However, he was caught lacking at times defensively and wasn’t as rugged as he normally is.

Sahal Abdul Samad – 8.0

Instrumental to Mohun Bagan’s success on the night, as he worked his socks off to be efficient on both sides of the pitch. He played a key role in helping kick-start the attacking chances with his forward passes but was also defensively superb, making four tackles, seven recoveries and winning 9/12 duels to prove his all-round quality.

Liston Colaco – 7.5

Colaco was a menace with his direct running and caused a lot of trouble with his trickery. Got himself in the right place to score his tap-in before winning the penalty soon after that.

Dimitri Petratos – 8.5

Petratos maintained his reputation as a clutch player and was involved in the big moments for Mohun Bagan again. His speculative effort resulted in Jason Cummings’ opener before he also produced a clever assist for Colaco. Then scored a cool penalty. A nightmare for the East Bengal defenders and came up big when his team needed him the most.

Jason Cummings – 7.0

In his first start in a Kolkata Derby, Cummings repaid his coach’s faith in him. He caused trouble with his clever link-up play and movement, getting in the right place to score the opener from close range.

Substitutes

Anirudh Thapa – 6.0

Did his job in helping bring more stability to the midfield and help his side get the job done.

Asish Rai – 6.0

Rai added more defensive sturdiness and energy to his side’s backline, ensuring they didn’t concede anymore.

Armando Sadiku – N/R

Had a few half-chances but failed to make much of them.

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