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Victory continued to elude last year's runners-up Mohun Bagan. The Kolkata giants went down 1-2 to JCT in a floodlit Round 2 I-League match at Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Kolkata on Thursday.
High on confidence after beating Shillong Lajong FC 5-1, the Sukhwinder Singh-coached JCT scored through man-of-the match Penn Ikechuwu Orji (46th minute) and Baljit Sahni (56th).
Bagan's only goal came in the 84th minute through Branco Cardozo, who replaced an injured Jose Ramirez Barreto.
With three points from the match, JCT have six points, while Bagan are yet to open their account after two matches.
Mohun Bagan were reduced to 10 players after stopper Deepak Mondal was handed two yellow cards.
Coach Karim Bencherifa and Mohun Bagan general secretary Anjan Mitra watched helplessly from the sidelines as Bagan conceded two goals in the space of ten minutes.
Ikechuwu Orji put JCT ahead, scoring his first I-League goal, the Nigerian import making amends for the penalty he missed against Lajong.
JCT's hat-trick hero Baljit Sahni made it 2-0. Displaying good attacking skills, he got past Bagan's Rakesh Masih, surged into
the box and slotted it past a stretched goalkeeper Shilton Paul.
Bagan reduced the margin through their Former Tata Football Academy player Branco Cardozo, who received a ball by Snehashis Chakraborty, and fired a long-ranger from about 25 yards that crashed into the net.
In stoppage time, Bagan were reduced to 10 players after Mondal got a second yellow.