Dominant East Bengal Put Seven Past Ten Man Mohammedan

A resurgent East Bengal FC took on a struggling Mohammedan SC at Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan on 23rd March. Mohammedan were looking to grab their first point of the season while East Bengal were looking to cement their place in the top 4 with a win going within 3 points of the top.

The match started with a total domination in possession and attacking play for East Bengal. They were mainly using the left wing with Vishnu going on repeated overlaps from his left back position supporting Edmund.

However the opening goal came from an unlikely souce. Anwar Ali attempted a tame effort from around 35 yards out. Padam Chhetri took a bowler as the ball timidly went past him to the back of the net. East Bengal was leading 1-0 in the 6th minute of the match.

As the attacking domination continued, Miguel was doubled inside the box by Sajad that resulted in a penalty in the 24th minute of the match. Yousef Ezejjari took the penalty and ensured a 2-0 lead for the Red and Gold brigade.

Yousef and Edmund could have scored atleast twice each in the following 20 minutes. But the next decisive moment came in the 33rd minute of the match when Joseph fouled Edmund to concede another penalty. He was also shown the red for the same as the already struggling Mohammedan went down to 10 men. This time Saul Crespo took the penalty and finished it calmly as East Bengal went up by 3 goals around 35 minute mark.

As the remainder of the half was played out without much decisive action, East Bengal went into the tunnel with a three goal and a man advantage. Mehrajuddin Wadoo had all to worry about in the interval.

Second half began with one substitution each from both the sides. East Bengal brought on Mahesh to replace Edmund. Mohammedan on the other hand brought on Lalremsanga to replace Adison.

Following the usual pattern of the first half, the second half started with East Bengal domination. The sustained pressure paid off again in the 55th minute when Miguel was fouled by Padam Chhetri as a last ditch dive. The penalty was taken again by Ezejjari who calmly put Padam Chhetri on the wrong side again to score hus second penalty of the match. East Bengal was now leading by a more than comfortable 4-0 lineup.

It was becoming a field day for East Bengal as Oscar wanted to test his entire bench strength. A triple substitution was made in the 65th minute when Souvik, Nandha and David were brought on for Yousef, Saul and Bipin. Mehraj was looking to consolidate some defensive stability by bringing on Hira Mondal in the defence and Rochharzela in the attack.

In search of a five star performance, East Bengal now started to go all out on attack. And it paid off in the 74th minute from the 16th corner of the match for the Red and Gold brigade. A Miguel corner fell for Vishnu who knew very little about the touch. But the ball trickled past the line before Padam Chhetri could do anything.

Oscar made his final change of the match by bringing on Sojberg to replace Miguel. Immediately afterwards, East Bengal gained their 17th corner of the match. Mahesh took the corner and Anwar calmly finished with his left foot to make the scoreline 6-0 on the 79th minute of the match. East Bengal had put half a dozen past a hapless Mohammedan.

As East Bengal kept gaining corners at regular intervals, the match was all but done going towards the end of the regular time. As 5 minutes were added at the end of regular time, the Mohammedan side was looking for atleast some positive from the match.

But it was East Bengal who almost scored against from the counter when Mahesh played a through ball for David to make him one on one with Padam Chhetri. But the strike was saved well by the Mohammedan goalkeeper.

As East Bengal kept creating chances till the final whistle, the match came to an end with no more changes to the scoreline. As East Bengal broke into the top 4, they completed a Seven Star Performance in the last minute of added time through Nandha Sekhar who cut in from the right wing to take a left footer curler past Padam Chhetri. The rout was complete with an unforeseen 7-0 routing.