East Bengal bounced back after an early reverse to outclass arch rivals Mohun Bagan 2-1 in a thrilling, high voltage encounter of the eighth National Football League in Kolkata on Sunday.
Youngster Ashim Biswas gave Bagan a surprise 15th minute lead before Baichung Bhutia drew parity for East Bengal in the 53rd minute and Brazilian Cristiano Junior struck the winner from a penalty seven minutes later in the fast paced match at the Salt Lake stadium.
Notwithstanding the expected outcome, the match was marked by keen tussle for the ball in the middle, scuffles and heated arguments between the players leading to expulsion of Bagan skipper Renedy Singh and East Bengal's Sur Kumar Singh. Six yellow cards were shared equally by the rivals.
East Bengal, however, had their purpose served as they culled full points to stand just three points away from their third NFL title - the second in a row. They now have 43 points from 19 matches, comfortably ahead of closest aspirants Dempo Sports Club, who have 39 points from 20 outings.
Bagan, hovering in the relegation zone, made their task difficult with sixth consecutive loss and a mere 19 points from as many matches.
The match began on an exciting note as Bagan, looking rejuvenated under new technical director Subrata Bhattacharya, played an intelligent brand of soccer, funneling East Bengal's dreaded upfront by strict zonal marking.
Their lone man in the front Biswas made things doubly exciting for Bagan in the 15th minute.
Renedy chipped an inswinger from the left into the box and Abhay Kumar gave a nice dummy to fox three rival defenders before Biswas got the ball unmarked and fired a rasping right footer that found no obstacle on its way to the net.
Things, however, went in for a sea change in the second session as East Bengal, trailing by a goal at the breather, bounced back like a wounded tiger with Bhutia, Junior, Mike Okoro and Douglas da Silva sweeping the Bagan defence with series of raids.
Bhutia, who was hardly noticed in the first half and missed a platter in the 50th minute, drew level three minutes later from a follow through as he nicely converted a rebound of Junior shot that hit the side post beating Bagan custodian Prasanta Dora hands down.
Junior, the Brazilian goal machine, then struck the winner from a penalty, the opportunity created by himself in 60th minute as Bagan defender Leonardo tripped him just inside the box.
With the match slipping out of their hands, Bagan players failed to hold their nerves and engaged in some rough tackles that evoked similar response from the rivals leading to some scuffles between the players.
Referee Walter Pereira had little option but to give marching order to Renedy and Sur Kumar in the 63rd minute.
Six others - Douglas, Mahesh Gawli and Dipankar Roy of East Bengal and Bagan's Lolendra Singh, Mehtab Hossain, Leonardo (for wasting time) were shown yellow cards.
Despite their intelligent game in the opening half, Bagan could have experienced a humiliating defeat but for some easy misses by East Bengal forwards and a bit of ill luck for the glamour club which ultimately saved some grace for the three-time champions.
In the 35th minute, a Junior shot from inside the box hit the cross-piece while a spectacular free kick by Douglas in the last minute of the match was denied by the side post.
But the easiest of the chances came and was wasted in the 50th minute, when Bhutia, fed by a Dipankar cross from the right, shot straight to the Bagan keeper from handshaking distance. As Dora failed to grip properly, the ball went to Dipankar via Alvito D'Cunha, but the medio shot over the bar from close.
Bagan, who were overshadowed by their rivals in the latter half, got an opportunity to restore parity in the 76th minute, but Ashim failed to utilise a minus by Zimbabwean Noel Casake inside the rival box.
Bagan have now lost both the NFL matches against the arch rivals by an identical 1-2 margin. This was their fourth loss in the sixth encounter against East Bengal this season.
East Bengal coach Subhas Bhowmick and his Bagan counterpart Bhattacharya however expressed satisfaction at the display of their wards.
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