ISL: Liston Colaco on target as Mohun Bagan beat Bengaluru FC, extend lead

Liston Colaco struck the lone goal as defending champions Mohun Bagan Super Giant defeated Bengaluru FC 10 in the Indian Super League ISL 202425 season at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan here on Monday night It was an extremely cagey affair with both teams not getting enough openings in front of the goal However Liston Colacorsquos sensational volley in the 74th minute helped the hosts bag all three points from the crucial clashWith this win the Mohun Bagan Super Giant have taken a sevenpoint lead 40 over FC Goa 33 who have played a game less 17 than the Mariners 18It was a rather slow start to the game with both teams struggling to string multiple passes in midfield However Bengaluru FC looked the brighter side going forward with their quick passes in an attempt to unlock the Marinersrsquo backlineMeanwhile the hosts opted for a route one approach with the forwards aiming to hold the ball up the field allowing Liston Colaco and Manvir Singh to make runs down the flanks The gamersquos first chance fell to Bengaluru FC in the 28th minute when Alberto Noguera released Ryan Williams with a brilliant ball from midfield The Australian hammered it towards goal but Vishal Kaith had it covered all alongAlso ReadAmount of cricket theyrsquove played therersquos much to learn from them Sitanshu Kotak on RohitViratIn the 35th minute Greg Stewart had a brilliant opening for the Mariners but the Scottish midfielder handled the ball in the box before taking his goal attempt The Mariners had a decent spell on the ascendancy with a flurry of attacks However the visitors were resolute in defence and kept the Mohun Bagan SG attackers at bayRight at the stroke of halftime Chhetri had the best chance of the first half when he combined with Noguera before waltzing his way past three Mohun Bagan SG defenders in the penalty area However with only the goalkeeper to beat the 40yearoldrsquos eventual effort struck the side netting The second half started with Mohun Bagan SG pushing for the goal Firstly Manvir delivered a telling cross across the goal intending to find Jamie MaclarenHowever Rahul Bheke cleared away the danger The Mariners came close from the subsequent corner when Deepak Tangrirsquos header forced a save from Gurpreet Singh Sandhu in goal In the 56th minute Bengaluru FC had a great chance when Nikhil Poojari found Edgar Mendez in the box with a brilliant cross The Spaniardrsquos header was on target but Kaith tipped it over the targetA minute later Pedro Capo also had an opening but his effort was too tame to trouble Kaith in goal The Blues had a great spell of sustained pressure with the likes of Mendez Williams and Chhetri hitting the penalty area and Noguera pulling the strings from midfieldIn the 74th minute the home eventually broke the deadlock courtesy of a goal from Colaco from outside the box The attack was initiated by Stewartrsquos cross which Bheke headed away However Colaco was in the correct spot to latch onto the stray ball before cannoning it into the top left corner leaving Gurpreet offguard in goal Jose Molina made two changes in the 77th minute when he brought on Jason Cummings and Ashique Kuruniyan replacing Stewart and Liston Meanwhile Gerard Zaragoza turned to Lalremtluanga Fanai replacing Suresh Wangjam in midfieldBengaluru FC threw bodies forward in search of the equaliser and Bheke almost levelled scores in injury time when he rose the highest from Williamsrsquo corner but his header was way over the target The visitors did orchestrate a few threatening moves in the final minutes but the Mariners backline was strong in securing their 12th victory of the campaignMohun Bagan Super Giant will lock horns against Mohammedan SC on February 1 whereas Bengaluru FC will travel to New Delhi to face Punjab FC on the same day earlier in the afternoonThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever