Bagan blank Arrows, avoid relegation

Kolkata: Mohun Bagan avoided the relegation threat completely with a 2-0 win over Pailan Arrows in a rescheduled 11th round I-League fixture at the Kalyani Stadium on Sunday.

Odafa Okolie (27th) and Quinton Jacobs (50th) struck for Bagan as they jumped to 10th spot in the 14-team table with two more rounds remaining. With one match in hand, the AIFF developmental outfit remained on 12th place with 23 points. Bagan tried to break the Arrows resistance initially when Syed Rahim Nabi released Odafa in the 17th minute but the Nigerian striker found his attempt going wide. Bagan kept the thrust employing a three-man attack -- with Ofada, CS Sabeeth and Tolgay Ozbey. Sabeeth took an attempt from outside the box and the ball was blocked by Arrows defender Souvik Ghosh as Odafa found the rebound and made no mistake in placing the ball home. Odafa had another opportunity in the 46th minute when he was released by an overhead ball from Jacobs but the former could not control his shot which went wide. Bagan doubled the lead in the 50th minute when Jacobs took a free-kick which hit the hands of Arrows goalkeeper Soram Poirei before finding the net. The Arrows goalkeeper Soram made a good save in the 58th minute when Odafa threatened to score another. Sabeeth had one chance in the 63rd minute but he found his attempt wide off the mark. PTI