Punjab FC – 2 (Majcen 58’, Mrzljak 66)
Mohammedan SC – 0
New Delhi, December 6: Punjab FC posted a comfortable 2-0 victory over Mohammedan SC to move to third in the table of the Indian Super League which was played here at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. Second half goals from Luka Majcen and Filip Mrzljak ensured the Shers secure their sixth win of the season in nine games and now have 18 points while Mohammedan remain 11th in the table with five points off 10 matches.
Goalkeeper Muheet Shabir was given his ISL debut by Panagiotis Dilmperis while Ninthoinganba Meetei also made his first start for the club. Nihal Sudeesh started at right back with Leon Augustine suspended and Khaimingthang Lhungdim still out with a shoulder injury. Ricky Shabong kept his place in the starting eleven and slotted in midfield alongside Nikhil Prabhu and Filip Mrzljak. Vinit Rai returned from injury and was named in the bench. On the other hand Mohammedan SC Head Coach Andrey Chernyshov lined his team in a 4-3-3 formation with Amarjit Singh Kiyam starting against his former club.
Punjab FC could have opened the scoring inside 30 seconds of the start, but Filip Mrzljak’s glancing header from a Luka Majcen cross went wide of the post. Mohammedan on the other end also started positively creating chances with the forward line looking in sync. Franca could not convert after his fine run down the line, being closed down by Muheet. Punjab increased the pressure on the visitors and almost scored at the end of a fine move. Mrzljak found Luka in space and the Slovenian’s right footer was saved on to the post by goalkeeper Bhaskar Roy.
Mohammedan had the best chance to score in the first half. Alexis Gomez and Franca combined well in the left wing and the latter’s cross found Remsanga free on the far post. The striker totally scuffed his attempt as he could not slot inside an open goal. Both teams went into the break with the scores level.
Remsanga missed a sitter again at the start of the second half as he could not divert a low cross from Franca. Mrzljak forced a save out of Bhaskar Roy once again as the keeper diverted the Croatian’s rasping left footer to safety.
Punjab took the lead in the 58th minute through Luka Majcen. Mrzljak once again tested Bhaskar Roy with a low shot which was saved on to the post by the goalkeeper but the rebound fell on the path of Ricky Shabong. The midfielder pushed the ball to Luka who found the net with a decisive finish. Punjab punished Mohammedan again for their sloppiness. Pulga Vidal cleverly found Mrzljak inside the box and the Croatian took a neat touch and planted the ball in the goal with an excellent left footed finish.
Punjab slowed down the game in the final quarter even as Mohammedan pushed to find some opening but were not fruitful in their attempts as Punjab’s defence remained solid for their third clean sheet of the season.
Punjab FC will face Jamshedpur FC in their next fixture on December 13th at the JRD Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpur.
