Aizawl: Hosts Aizawl Football Club held Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan to a goal-less draw in the opening match of the 13th I-League here on Saturday.
The season’s inaugural game between two former champions had several moments of excitement but a goal eluded both sides in the end. Both coaches, Kibu Vicuna of Mohun Bagan and Stanley Rozario of Aizawl, packed their sides with midfielders, indicating a cautious approach to begin their campaign. Mohun Bagan had Suhair V P as the lone striker upfront while Rozario played William Lalnunfela ahead of a six-man midfield. The visitors pressed hard from the get-go. Suhair’s through pass to Julian Colinas brought up the first chance of the game in the third minute and the Spaniard’s left-footed strike beat Lalremruata in the Aizawl goal, but went just wide. Suhair then got an even better through ball from Nongdamba Naorem in the eighth minute but hit straight at Remruata who did well by coming off his line quickly to narrow down the angle. In the 21st minute, Lalrosanga brought up a fantastic block to deny Fran Gonsalves with the goalkeeper hopelessly out of position. Aizawl, however, started getting back into the game from the half-hour mark and just before the break William Lalnunfela missed a couple of gilt-edged opportunities to put the home side ahead. Mohun Bagan had begun strong but both sides certainly ended the half on equal terms. Aizawl pressed on with confidence after the break. In other match, infront of a packed audience of 31,184 home fans, Gokulam Kerala got their Hero I-League 2019-20 season underway on a positive note by pulling off a 2-1 victory over Manipur’s NEROCA FC at the EMS Corporation Stadium in Kozhikode on Saturday.
Goals from Henry Kisekka in the 43rd minute and Marcus Joseph in the 49th minute almost took the home side to victory before Taryk Sampson pulled one back for the visitors late in the game.Both returning coaches fielded a line-up signalling attacking intent. (PTI)
