CALCUTTA, January 3: It is over a decade since Satyajit Chatterjee played his first football match at the highest level in the domestic circuit. Yet, the small-built Mohun Bagan midfielder remains as agile as ever. He proved his utility once again for Bagan today at the Salt lake Stadium, weaving past a maze of Indian Bank defenders to score in the 13th minute. That strike was the only one which went into the net in the entire 90 minutes. For the home side, it meant collecting three points in their third match of the Philips National League. Their opponents Indian Bank suffered their second defeat in as many matches as Chatterjee earned his first man-of-the-match award of the tournament.
Bagan dominated most of the first half with Chima Okerie and Abdul Khaleque building up moves from the right flank. Khaleque, used his speed well to outrun the Indian Bank defenders who strangely enough, lacked cohesion. They were often caught unawares as the Bagan moves went deep into their box. The home side could not
make much use of them with the burly Nigerian being culprit of squandering a few chances.
Okerie made the first positive move for Bagan when he crossed one for Khaleque from the right. However, an alert V P Sathyan was there to intercept it.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
