Holders Mohun Bagan finished a disappointing season on a dismal note, suffering a shock 0-1 loss to the Hindusthan Aeronatics Limited in their concluding 7th National Football League match in Kolkata on Monday.
The Banglore outfit, already relegted to the second tier of the high profile league, rode on a second-half strike by Sunil to carve out only their third viwin to finish the tournament with 11
points from 22 outings.
The winner came in the 69th minute when Sunil, later adjudged man of the match, headed home a Xavier Vijay Kumar flag-kick from the right, giving no chance to the stunned Bagan defence.
Bagan, two-time NFL champions, who enjoyed territorial domination, paid the penalty for muffing up a number of gilt-edged opportunites in the listless Salt Lake stadium encounter.
However, the Kolkata giants were unlucky not to have scored in the 32nd minute when a Basudeb Mondal free-kick from just outside the box hit the bar and rebounded into play.
Later in the same session, Sunil Chhetri's header landed off-target while his volley went into the side-netting seconds before the breather.
The green and maroon brigade came tantalisingsly close in restoring parity in the 78th minute but HAL custodian Mark Mascarenhas dived to his right to brilliantly thwart a Dulal Biswas effort.
Bagan finished with 33 points from 22 mathces, while HAL 11.
PTI
