An own goal from Sumeet Passi doomed East Bengal’s fate as ATK Mohun Bagan returned to winning ways by the narrowest margins on Sunday at Durand Cup’s ‘Kolkata Derby’ tent in Kolkata. Mohun Bagan played to a packed crowd of about 70,000 people and progressed in a bizarre fashion when Liston Colaco’s low flag kick caused Eliandro to turn a play he could not touch and the ball landed in the net by an onrushing Passi, who was literally caught off guard and couldn’t get his body out of line.
If anyone was to blame, it was the Brazilian forward, who had come down to defend his team’s citadel.
The result also revived the 16-time champions’ hopes in the tournament as they secured their first win after a shocking defeat to I-league Rajasthan United and a draw against Mumbai City FC.
Mohun Bagan now has four points from three games in Group B and will face the Indian Navy in their decisive final group game on September 5.
The Kolkata Derby was back at the Salt Lake Stadium for the first time since January 19, 2020, when they last clashed in the I-League.
Stephen Constantine’s men could hardly hold on to strength, as Mohun Bagan kept pressure from both flanks for the first 45 minutes.
But all their hard work was lost because of Eliandro’s indiscretion.
It could have been worse for East Bengal, who gave up almost a second in the 54th minute, but Kamaljit Singh busted a solid shot from Indian midfielder Ashique Kuruniyan.
East Bengal showed a more attacking intent in the second half, but there was little support for their Brazilian forward Eliandro, while their long ball strategy was handled easily by the Mariners.
64 percent possession in the first half underlined the dominance of the Mariners up front as they controlled the game deep into the penalty area.
But East Bengal’s newly formed line-up under the former Indian coach should take credit as they held on to the Mariners with their resolute defence, aided superbly by Spanish centre-back Ivan Gonzalez.
Charis Kyriakou was good too, while Lalchungnunga was at his best as they didn’t do anything wrong until that second half of Passi.
East Bengal tried to get into the game slowly after half an hour and got their first shot on target from a powerful Gonzalez tall ranger who narrowly missed the target.
Soon they invaded further half of Mohun Bagan with a counter-attack from Eliandro from the left, but the three-man attack failed to get past Mohun Bagan’s defenses.
Shortly after the switch, tempers flared when young Asish Rai waved his arm at Gonzalez to escape with a yellow card.
Former India U-17 World Cupper Aniket Jadhav’s shot in the 49th minute, but it missed the direction.
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East Bengal has yet to win in a derby since taking a 2-0 win in the I-League on January 27, 2019.
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)
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