Rafi Sees Red As Blue Colts Suffer Third Loss In 2nd Division League

Kolkata: Ten-man Bengaluru FC B suffered yet another heart-breaking loss as they went down 4-2 to Bhawanipore FC in a Hero 2nd Division League Round-3 encounter at the Howrah Stadium, in Kolkata on Friday.

In this six-goal thriller, it was Bhawanipore FC who took the lead through attacker Pankaj Moula (18’) before midfielder Bekey Oram (27’) levelled the scores for the Colts going into the half time. After Mohammed Rafi’s sending off (51’), the hosts reclaimed the lead and went 3-1 up through quickfire goals from Pankaj (56’) and Anup Raj (58’). An own goal at the other end from Nitish Hazra (65’ OG) helped BFC B reduce the deficit before Pradeep Mohanraj (83’) netted the fourth goal for Bhawanipore in the final ten minutes.

With this loss, Naushad Moosa’s boys stay rooted at the bottom of the standings after three rounds, while Bhawanipore FC moved up to third in Group B with their first win of the campaign.

After a slow start to the game, it was the hosts who took the lead in the 18th minute when Pankaj Moula beat Sharon in the BFC goal. Fredy Chawngthansanga lost the ball a few yards outside the BFC box and Anup Raj capitalised on the situation. He carried it down the right flank before sending in a low cross to Pankaj who tapped it home from close range.

Ten minutes later, Moosa’s boys pulled level at the other end with a well worked move. Shighil NS sent defender Jagdeep Singh through down the right who then played a low cross into the box. Advait Shinde dummied with a jump to confuse the defenders allowing Bekey who followed behind him to score with a neat finish past the rival custodian.

Bengaluru got off to a horrible start in the second half as defender Mohammed Rafi saw a straight red card after what seemed like a soft foul on striker Ngnan Kouassi outside the box in the 51st minute. Going down to ten men, the Blue Colts suffered as Bhawanipore managed to score twice in succession.

They took the lead once again when Pankaj completed his brace turning home Monoranjan Singh’s cross home from the right in the 56th minute before Anup Raj doubled the lead two minutes later, capitalising on ‘keeper Sharon’s poor clearance.

The Blue Colts managed to cut down the deficit when Advait’s shot from the right was deflected into his own net by Bhawanipore defender Nitish Hazra in the 65th minute. However, Pradeep Mohanraj scored at the other end in the 83rd minute to crush hopes of a BFC comeback and sealed a first win for the hosts.

Bengaluru FC B now travel away to face Hyderabad FC B on February 22.