AFC Cup: Mohun Bagan Super Giant beat Maldives’ Maziya Sports and Recreation 2-1

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], October 3 (ANI): Mohun Bagan Super Giant defeated Maziya Sports and Recreation of Maldives 2-1 in Group D of the AFC Cup 2023/24 at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan Stadium on Monday. 

Mohun Bagan now leads Group D with the most points after two games, followed by Maziya and Bashundhara Kings, both of whom have three points.

In the 13th minute, the home team had their first opportunity on goal, but Hussain Shareef saved Brendan Hamill’s header off a Cummings pass. Ten minutes later, Maziya’s Hamza Mohamed blasted a shot across the face of Mohun Bagan’s goal, with Naiz Hassan just a step too slow to handle the ball, as per AIFF’s release.

Hugo Boumous fed Cummings on the edge of the box in the 28th minute, and the Australian forward swivelled away from Sebastijan Antic before burying a powerful left-foot effort into the bottom corner.

Maziya replied in the 35th minute with a Tomoki Wada shot that Hamill stopped with keeper Vishal Kaith racing across the goal.

It could have been 2-0 for Mohun Bagan in the 41st minute but Antic defended a penalty kick ruse tried by Cummings in passing the ball to Dimitrios Petratos. 

Maziya equalised on the stroke of halftime, with Wada unleashing a tremendous shot straight down the middle of Kaith’s goal that was too hot for the Mohun Bagan custodian to handle.

Maziya’s Shareef was forced into action again five minutes into the second half, delivering back-to-back reflex stops to deny Armando Sadiku and Cummings a second goal.

In the 79th minute, the Maldives international continued their good form by tipping away Manvir Singh’s long-range drive, then beating Sahal Abdul Samad in a one-on-one situation three minutes later.

But in the second minute of extra time, Shareef was finally beaten after Sahal threaded a pass for Cummings to make up for his missed penalty, finishing with a lovely strike between the keeper’s legs to give Mohun Bagan the win.