Mohun Bagan entered the semi-finals of the Federation Cup football tournament, defeating JCT Mills 3-0 at the Salt Lake stadium in Kolkata on Friday.

The winners led 2-0 in the first-half, with Brazilian Jose Barreto opening the account.

Skipper Renedy Singh scored once in each half.

Even though poor underfoot conditions posed difficulties for the visitors, the Punjab outfit played an attacking game initially and their defence line-up, comprising Randhwa, Mosa Alio, Dhanesh and Baldeep Singh, thwarted the Bagan attacks till the 33rd minute. But, thereafter, the Mohun Bagan forward line, comprising Renedy, Barreto, Marcos Pereira, called the shots with repeated raids on the rival citadel.

It was in the 33rd minute when Bagan scored their first goal as a Barreto back-volley off a Renedy miskick from the top of the penalty box entered their JCT net, beating Nigerian custodian Mansuru Mohammed.

The home team scored their second goal a minute before the lemon break as the unguarded Renedy made no mistake and finished on an advancing Harpreet Gill centre from the right side of the penalty area.

On resumption, JCT, led by the experienced Jo Paul Ancheri, tried hard to fight back into the match, but their efforts were in vain as all they could manage were a few attacks till the Mohun Bagan goalmouth.

Renedy scored his second goal in the 70th minute when his powerful 25-yard free-kick over the wall hit the bottom the of the crosspiece before entering the net, leaving Mansuru a mere onlooker.

Late in the second half, Bagan introduced Sunil Chetri, Abhay Kumar and Basudeb Mondal for Barreto, Harpreet Saini and Harpreet Gill.

Bagan will play Mohammedan Sporting in the first semi-final on August 5.

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