I-League: Mohun Bagan edge past Pune; Salgaocar beat East Bengal

Kolkata: Defender Pritam Kotal's late strike ensured a 1-0 win for city giants Mohun Bagan over Pune FC in a I-League encounter on Saturday.

In other matches, Salgaocar FC beat East Bengal 3-1 at Goa, while Royal Wahingdoh held another Goan outfit Dempo SC 1-1.

At Kolkata's Salt Lake stadium, Haitian defender Sony Norde's cross into the box was headed home by Kotal in the 77th minute to ensure full points for Mohun Bagan. The rivals had finished goalless at the breather.

Bagan head-coach Sanjoy Sen made three changes. Debjit Majumder stood as goalkeeper in place of Shilton Paul while Chinadorai Sabeeth and Jeje Lalpekhlua made it into the first eleven replacing Manish Bhargav and Balwant Singh.

Bagan started the game with a couple of set-pieces which failed to threaten the Pune goal. Their first real chance fell for Lalpekhlua whose shot was tipped over the bar by Pune custodian Amrinder Singh.

Pune's Montenegrin striker Darko Nikac came close to scoring in the first quarter but his shot on target was deflected wide by Bagan defender Kingshuk Debnath.

Eighteen minutes into the game, Bagan's Japanese medio Katsumi Yusa found the back of the net but the referee disallowed the goal citing handball from Yusa.

Thereafter, the game was restricted to the midfield as both sides failed to create clear cut opportunities. Those that came where spilled due to lack of proper finishing from both sides.

Just before the half hour mark, Portuguese medio Edgar Marcelino waltzed past at least three Bagan players before Bello Rasaq closed him down and negated the threat.

At the other end of the pitch, Yusa remained a threat for Pune as he kept on feeding passes to midfielder Norde.

After the goal, Bagan tightened their defence and kept the Pune attackers at bay, as they failed to stage any threatening attacks.

In a second I-League game in Goa, Salgaocar FC's Douhou Pierre (43rd) and Scottish striker Darryl Duffy (first half injury time) struck for the hosts in the opening 45 minutes. Brian Mascarenhas (65') added a third in the second half before Dudu Omagbeni (77') grabbed a consolation goal for the visitors.

In the third game of the day in Shillong, Germanpreet Singh put Dempo ahead in the 53rd minute, but the hosts Royal Wahingdoh nullified the lead through Nadong Bhutia 19 minutes later.