FC Pune beat Bagan to lift u-19 IFA Shield

Mohun Bagan's continued its trophy-less run as they suffered a 0-3 thrashing against FC Pune City at their home ground in the U-19 IFA Shield final, here today.

Gani Ahmed Nigam struck a brace while super sub Balkar Singh scored the third goal to hand the Indian Super League franchise, FC Pune City's U-19 side a glorious win at Mohun Bagan ground.

The loss meant Mohun Bagan failed to win a trophy this season with the senior team finishing second best in I-League and Federation Cup.

Once a premier tournament in the Indian football calendar running into 121st edition, the Shield has been reduced to an U-19 affair three seasons ago.

Pune's forward Gani drew the first blood from close range after being fed from the right by Omega Vanlalhruatulanga.

Minutes later, he doubled the lead from a spot kick, while some sloppy goalkeeping by Sanjay Bhattacharya saw Mohun Bagan concede a third with the ball going in between his legs.

Coached by Spanish coach Roger Lamesa Grau, Pune showed fine promise with Gani leading from the front with four goals from five matches en route to winning their second title in two months. They won the Goa Super Cup in May.

This was also their second win over Mohun Bagan, having beaten the Kolkata side in the group B league with Gani scoring the solitary goal.

Pune started off with a 1-0 win over Tata Football Academy and downed Minerva Punjab 3-1 to top the group and ousted AIFF XI in shootout in the semis.