New Delhi: Kolkata giants East Bengal exhibited a dominating performance against Air India at the Salt Lake Stadium in the I-League on Saturday to register their first win under Subhash Bhowmick, marching to a 3-1 victory over the Airmen.
First Half
The match started with East Bengal demonstrating a good amount of momentum and a considerable degree of urgency as they took the game to the Air India penalty box in the first couple of minutes.
But it was Air India who had the first clear-cut chance of the match as early as the fourth minute. The Mumbai side ventured on a counter-attack and thanks to a mistake from Saumik Dey in the midfield, they found themselves in a great position to take the lead, only for striker Subhash Singh to hit straight at East Bengal custodian Avijit Ghosh from the edge of the penalty area.
East Bengal then created their own chance in the eighth minute when a cross from Renedy Singh from the left was headed out by Air India but fell to Ishmael Addo, who tried an ambitious volley only for the ball to go wide off the mark.
At this point, East Bengal were playing with a predetermined plan and seemed to be up for it while Air India were relying more on the counter-attacks and were perennially looking for breaks.
Air India then had a great chance to take the lead in the 16th minute as a free-kick from the right landed right in front of the East Bengal goal, sending panic across the Bengal backline. Air India had both Michael Tayo and Chukuma Udofia in there but neither managed to get a decent connection with the ball.
Moments later the Airmen had another good chance to break the deadlock when a long through ball from the midfield released Surojit Roy on the right who, with acres of space, somehow managed to hit the ball over the crossbar.
The visitors thought they had scored in the 25th minute only for the referee to deem it offside. Emmanuel Ovieghara headed home after some defensive ping-pong in the East Bengal penalty area but he was adjudged to be in an offside position.
East Bengal weren’t clamped down by this and took the game to Air India. Syed Rahim Nabi headed over the bar from Renedy Singh’s corner and then Sunil Chhetri missed the target after Jayanta Sen’s shot was blocked.
There were a few vague attempts, mostly long rangers, after that but no constructive or concrete chance was created by either side for the rest of the first half.
Second Half
The second session didn't start with much intensity but the contour altered in the 48th minute. First half substitute Sanju Pradhan sent in a defence splitting pass from the right flank and released Yusif Yakubu, who took a fierce shot that ended in the back of the Air India net.
Bimal Ghosh's side didn't lose heart after that though and came close on a couple of occasions with successive free-kicks but Bengal goalkeeper Avijit Ghosh was quite up to the challenge.
Then four minutes before the hour mark, a well measured long ball from the left from inside his own half from Renedy Singh found Sunil Chhetri with only two defenders near him. The Delhi lad got past both of them and coolly slotted the ball into the back of the net to double the Kolkata giants' lead.
Thereafter East Bengal started to dominate the match with Air India looking down and out. Subhash Bhowmick's men could have extended their lead to 3-0 in the 67th minute when Yakubu had the chance to show his free-kick skills but he hit the post from the edge of the penalty area.
Bengal were clearly the better side in the second half and after going 2-0 up they appeared to have the match firmly under their control.
The Bengal giants did stretch their lead to 3-0 with nine minutes of normal time remaining. An almost nonchalant but well calculated cross from the left from Renedy Singh was partly parried out by Air India custodian Arup Debnath. The ball fell to youngster Sanju Pradhan who scored with a ferocious shot to virtually wrap up the match for East Bengal.
Air India though did manage to pull one back. A free-kick on the right edge of the Bengal penalty box from Napolean Singh was partly cleared out by Mehrajuddin Yadoo. The ball fell to Subhash Singh inside the area itself and Singh scored with a left footed shot.
That goal came in the 88th minute and proved to be a mere consolation as Bengal marched to a 3-1 victory.
Scorers:
East Bengal: Yusif Yakubu 48’, Sunil Chhetri 56’, Sanju Pradhan 81’
Air India: Subhash Singh 88’
More from Goal.comPremier League preview: West Ham United vs Manchester UnitedPlayer Ratings: Chelsea 0-0 Hull CityLa Liga predictions: Round 22
Comments
0 comment