Ganguly gives Bagan victory

Defending champions Mohun Bagan edged past a fighting Air India by a solitary goal to keep their hopes for the title alive in the National Football League.

At the Salt Lake stadium on Monday, the Calcutta giants struck after a barren first half through striker Amar Ganguly to take full points from the 16th round clash.

Ganguly headed home a pass from Brazilian striker Jose Baretto midway into the second half to clinch the issue.

The victory helped Bagan to move to the second position in the 12-team league table with 31 points from 16 matches while Air India got into the relagation zone, having collected only 14 points from 16 outings. East Bengal head the table with 34 points from 15 matches.

Bagan were indeed lucky to earn full points on Monday as they looked completelydishevelled in the absence of two of their regulars -- striker R C Prakash and medio Rennedy Singh, who have joined the training camp for the pre-World Cup tournament. They were unable to combine well and lacked thrust in their attack.

Air India, who lost 0-3 to Bagan in the first leg clash, also failed to put up a good show. In the absence of striker Khalid Jamil, who is also at the pre-World Cup camp, they were unable to produce goal-bound moves worth mentioning, specially in the first half. As a result, the first session turned out to be an insipid affair with both the sides wasting an opportunity each.