Bagan thrash Salgaocar 4-0, move into Fed Cup semis

A rampant Mohun Bagan side thrashed Salgaocar 4-0 to book a place in the semi-finals of the Federation Cup football tournament here on Thursday.

Haitian forward Sony Norde (45+1, 52nd minutes) scored a brace while Katsumi Yusa (25th) and Jeje Lalpekhlua (90+4) netted the others for Bagan at the Barasat stadium.

In the first leg in Goa, the Mariners had won 3-2, thus they go through to the last four 7-2 on aggregate.

Bagan looked from the outset threatened with Jeje's shot being saved off the goalline in the third minute of the game. The pressure continued and the hosts had their second chance a few minutes later but this time too Jeje's terrific bicycle kick flew past the post after taking a deflection of rival defender Eder Monteiro.

Around the 25th minute mark, Bagan were rewarded for their persistence as Yusa slid in to score. Norde found acres of space in front of him after being released on the left flank, he ran hard and then laid the ball in for his Japanese team-mate who made no mistake.

At the other end, Calvin Mbarga missed an easiest of chances as he chipped the ball over the crossbar with only the goalkeeper to beat.

In the first half injury time, Norde made Salgaocar pay for the miss and got onto the scoresheet himself by tucking in a Yusa pass calmly past an onrushing Karanjit Singh as Bagan went into the break leading 2-0.

The Mariners did not let Salgaocar off the hook even after the restart and Karanjit had to pull out a brilliant save to stop Bagan from going 3-0 up and then another effort from Yusa -- which crept in was disallowed by the referee.

However, there was no stopping Norde. The Haitian international was given a chance in the 52nd minute and he grabbed it with both hands by dashing into the box and then placing the ball in the right corner. Even though Karanjit got a hand to the shot, it was not enough to keep it out.

The closest Salgaocar came to scoring in the second half was in the 65th minute but all three attempts from their players hit the woodwork.

Thereafter Bagan fell back to defend and that they did with all their might. Three minutes from regulation time Salgaocar could have grabbed a late consolation courtesy of Brian Mascarenhas but Raju Gaikwad cleared it off the line.

In the last minute of stoppage time Jeje put the final nail on the Salgaocar coffin with a brilliant solo strike.

--IANS

dd/pur/vt