Kolkata: Riding on Holicharan Narzary's first half strike, five-time champions Dempo returned to winning ways with a narrow 1-0 victory against Mohun Bagan in a Round 15 I-League here on Saturday.
Narzary smashed the ball past Sandip Nandy in a brilliant 33rd minute strike to help Dempo bag their first win from six matches. There was a setback for Dempo who were reduced to 10-man when Jewel Raja was sent off following a second yellow, but the Goans had sealed the issue by then.
Dempo had last won against defending champions Churchill Brothers in a round nine fixture slipping to the bottom-half, but the win took them to seventh place with 16 points from 14 matches.
It was once again a pathetic display from the home side who were at their wasteful best, while ace forward Odafa Okolie continued his slump in form as they slipped to 10th with 15 points from 14 matches.
Putting up an unchanged line-up with Odafa and Christopher Chizoba up front, Mohun Bagan had the first move when Kastsumi Yusa got an opening early on, but the Japanese recruit was wayward.
Referee C Srikishna found himself in the centre of controversy ruling out a penalty appeal from the home side after Narayan Das used his arm to block a Ram Malik cross inside the box in the 11th minute.
Moments later, Mohun Bagan Echezona Anyichie found an open net after being set up by Denson Devadas, but the Nigerian header went over the crosspiece.
In the later part of the second-half, Mohun Bagan had a flurry of chances with Odafa and Katsumi missing some easy ones as they failed to find an equaliser.
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