GUWAHATI, May 11 - A spirited South China Athletic Association, Hong Kong thrashed Mohun Bagan 3-0 in their last group stage match at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium here today.
With this defeat Mohun Bagan�s unbeaten run in the AFC Cup group stage campaign finally came to an end.
Already having qualified for the group of 16, Mohun Bagan playing in the absence of some of their leading players failed to make an impact in their final match of the group stage.
South China�s midfielder Mahama Awal making his way through the right flank, opted for a pass to Law Hiu Chung who made absolutely no mistake in finding the back of the net in the 19th minute.
It didn�t take much long for the visitors to increase their lead as Ryan Griffiths took full advantage of the poor defence to score the second goal in the 24th minute.
To make things even worse for the Kolkata outfit, Leung Chung Pong�s thorough pass to Mahama Awal saw the latter attempt on target. His powerful strike from the left corner of the box saw the ball taking a deflection off Abhishek Das before finding the net in the 33rd minute.
Switching sides, both the teams failed to produce anything spectacular with play being mainly confined to the midfield. Mohun Bagan looked ordinary in their defence while they hardly made any inroads into the South China territory.
Having received a free kick from around 25 yards after a foul on Raju Gaikwad by Agbo Wisdom Fofo, Lal Kamal who stepped in to take the set piece failed to trouble the South China custodian in the 54th minute.
Mohun Bagan came close to reducing the deficit in the 89th minute with Kean Lewis trying a volley but was well denied by South China�s custodian Tsang Man Fai.
With this win, South China Athletic Association too secured a group of 16 berth. Mohun Bagan will face Tampine Rovers FC in the group of 16.
