Bagan add youth league title to ISL double

Kolkata: To their first ISL double, Mohun Bagan Super Giant have added the under-21 Reliance Foundation Development League with Pasang Dorjee Tamang’s hat-trick helping them beat Manipur’s Classic FA 3-0 in Mumbai on Monday. The teams had drawn 0-0 in the group stage.

Tamang opened the scoring in the eighth minute with a shot from the edge of the box that went in at the top right corner. He made it 2-0 in the 22nd minute exploiting a defensive error. The midfielder picked a loose ball in the midfield to complete his hattrick in the 52nd minute.

Mohun Bagan have also won the under-15 champions (Kolkata region) of the competition organised by Reliance Foundation Youth Sports.

FC Goa beat Jamshedpur FC 1-0 through Saish Gaunkar’s 15th minute goal to win the third place play-off, which was held before the final at Reliance Corporate Park.

With 16 goals, Lawmsanzuala of Jamshedpur FC won the Golden Boot. The Golden Glove award went to Priyansh Dubey of Mohun Bagan for 10 clean sheets. Classic FA’s Mohammed Arbash was adjudged best player and won the Golden Ball. The semi-finalists will take part in the Premier League Next Generation Cup.

Like in the ISL this term, Mohun Bagan had made the final beating Jamshedpur FC. Unlike the senior team which needed a late goal to seal the deal, Mohun Bagan’s youth team won 5-1 after chasing the match from the 13th minute. Classic FA, where Renedy Singh was chief coach before the former international midfielder took up the role of an assistant-coach at Bengaluru FC, too had a comfortable run to the final beating FC Goa 3-0. They were the only academy team to make it this far.

Under head coach Chandam Chtrasen Singh, Classic FA had finished joint-top with Jamshedpur FC in the Rest of India group which got them a berth in the zonal qualifiers where, in a group comprising Jamshedpur FC, NorthEast United, Shillong Lajong and Aizawl FC, they finished second.

This was the fourth edition of the competition where clubs from nine regions across the country, including youth teams from ISL sides and those from different tiers of the I-League, participate along with independent academy sides nominated by state association.