Mohammedan Sporting Club went down 3-4 on penalties to Border Security Force in the final of the 70th Independence Cup in Nagaon, Assam on Saturday.

Mohammedan Sporting took the lead through Charles Atcha in the 14th minute before Jitinder Rawat equalized for BSF in the 43rd minute.

BSF attempted to make an early mark on the match with a neat Ramakanta Hembram chip for Jitinder in the first minute signalling their intentions.

It was almost all BSF for the first five minutes really before Mohammedan Sporting started to come into their own by starting to contest in the midfield. Having missed some half chances till the 14th minute mark Mohammedan broke the deadlock through Charles who scored from Philip Adjah’s pass.

The Black Panthers then took control of the match. The Kolkata outfit probably should have scored a couple more goals before the break, but their finishing let them down.

Mohammedan Sporting looked dangerous every time they pushed forward and Sumit Ghosh tried to curl the ball into the top corner but BSF goalkeeper Harpreet Singh produced a fine save to deny the attacker in the 39th minute.

While Mohammedan Sporting pushed high up BSF managed to restore the parity against the run of the play as Jitinder took advantage of a defensive error to beat Mohammedan Sporting custodian Priyant Singh from close range in the 43rd minute as the both teams went into the breather with scores locked 1-1.

BSF came back into the second-half with more purpose and after a couple of changes early on they started to look more threatening out wide. Ramakanta had the best opportunity in the opening minutes of the second-half when his free-kick was tipped over by Priyant.

Although Mohammedan Sporting dominated possession in the second-half they struggled to get near enough to their opponents goal to really trouble them, managing just two shots in 45 minutes. But it was hardly much better at the other end with BSF restricted to just three attempts on goal themselves.

Meanwhile, Mohammedan Sporting suffered a huge blow in the 74th minute when Priyant was forced to leave the field after suffering an injury and was replaced by Sourav Chakraborty, who made his first appearance of the season.

Despite the best efforts of both sides it seemed goals weren’t on the agenda for the evening as they went through regulation time with scores locked 1-1.

It was nail-biting stuff as the players went through the motions of a penalty shootout taking the crowd packed into the stands at Nurul Amin Stadium on a roller-coaster ride right alongside them.

In the end it seems experience paid off with the BSF holding their nerve to slot four goals to Mohammedan Sporting’s three.

(Mohammedan Sporting Club)