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| Man-of-the-Match Ernest Jeremiah of East Bengal evades a challenge from Dempo's Stanley Colaco during their match at Salt Lake Stadium on Monday. Picture by Santosh Ghosh |
Calcutta: A remarkably rejuvenated East Bengal outfit killed two birds with one stone at the Salt Lake Stadium on a humid Monday afternoon. The 2-1 win in the National Football League (NFL) for the ONGC Cup helped them avenge the 2-3 defeat in the first-phase clash in Margao and, more importantly, pushed the three-horse championship race to the final round.
As things stand, Sporting Clube de Goa (45 points) will clinch the trophy if they beat Mahindra United in the final round. If Sporting stumble at the final hurdle, Dempo (44 points) can climb the peak by beating the already relegated Tollygunge Agragami at home.
East Bengal (43) will come into the picture provided both Sporting and Dempo falter and they themselves overcome another demoted side, Vasco, at home.
Taking the field sans three key men ? Debjit Ghosh, Alvito D’Cunha and Bhaichung Bhutia ? East Bengal still came out guns blazing. A positive frame of mind, in sharp contrast to their defence-first tactic which hurt the defending champions in the last few games, made all the difference.
Man-of-the-Match Ernest Jeremiah capitalised on some sloppy defending to nudge East Bengal ahead after 18 minutes. Syed Rahim Nabi made it 2-0 just past the half-hour mark. Dempo pulled one back seven minutes from full time, Clifford Miranda converting a penalty which Dempo earned after M. Suresh brought down a goalbound Ranty Martins.
Jeremiah was in prime form, while the Climax Lawrence-Shylo Malsawmtluanga-Sandip Das trio held a vice-like grip over the midfield. Subhas Chakraborty worked tirelessly, falling down to lend a helping hand one moment and initiating a counter-attack the next. The defence was quite efficient in dealing with the threat posed by Martins, the dangerous Nigerian striker who had destroyed East Bengal with a hattrick in the Margao clash.
Completing an allround team effort was Rajat Ghosh Dastidar. His spot-on anticipation and timely interceptions buried quite a few threatening Dempo moves. But what stood out was the 51st-minute effort, when he stretched out the left leg to divert a Martins header from eight yards out.
A couple of goalline saves ? both by Subhas ? kept Dempo’s frustration level high. As Majek Bolaji’s header off a Mario Soares free-kick struck the inside edge of the crosspiece and fell on the goalline, Subhas was quick to kick it out of harm’s way. This was a key moment as East Bengal hadn’t scored till then.
Just after Nabi’s goal, Bolaji threatened to score again, only to be denied by Subhas ? this time with a headed clearance.
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THE THREE-HORSE
RACE
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Here’s how the three title-contenders
can make it:
Sporting Clube de Goa
Will render all equations irrelevant and bag top honours
if they beat Mahindra United as they will go to 48 points
Dempo
Must beat Tollygunge Agragami, which will take them
to 47, and hope Sporting don’t beat Mahindra
East Bengal
Scenario I: Must beat Vasco, which will take
them to 46, and hope Sporting lose to Mahindra and Dempo
don’t beat Tollygunge.
Scenario II: Must beat Vasco by six goals or
more and hope Sporting draw with Mahindra and Dempo
don’t beat Tollygunge. In that case, East Bengal
will go through on goal difference despite tying on
points with Sporting (46 each) |
Those close shaves and a second-half stoppage-time scare ? when R.C. Prakash and Martins took turns to miss out on an inviting Miranda centre ? apart, East Bengal were firmly in control of proceedings. They created the better chances, with Jeremiah being a constant source of danger to the Dempo defence.
Jeremiah himself could have netted three more. Set up by a combined Climax-Subhas move, the Nigerian saw his 29th-minute left-footer being palmed away by Satish Kumar for a corner. Another left-footer followed, this time wide of target.
Three minutes after change of ends, Jeremiah cut in from the right, went a tad too wide and fired a right-footer which ricocheted off the sidepost. In between, Climax hit straight at the onrushing custodian and Nabi volleyed out from close range.
Dempo were let down by two of their dependable stalwarts, Stanley Colaco in defence and Miranda in midfield. Both seemed to be playing in slow motion in extremely trying conditions. Add to this the eighth-minute injury to Riston Rodrigues, and Dempo’s cup of woes was full.
The Malaysian match officials added a new dimension. Referee Ram Chandran was better than some of his Indian counterparts, but only just. He had the courage to flash the yellow card for off-the-ball charges, but a couple of nasty fouls escaped his sight. The advantage rule was also not applied quite a few times.
The bottomline was, none complained. Simply because he was a ‘neutral.’
TEAMS
East Bengal: Rajat Ghosh Dastidar, Syed Rahim Nabi, M. Suresh, Habibur Rahman Mondal, Madhab Das (Selwyn Fernandes, 17), Gurpreet Singh, Shylo Malsawmtluanga (Chandan Das, 90), Sandip Das, Climax Lawrence, Subhas Chakraborty (Bijen Singh, 57), Ernest Jeremiah.
Dempo: Satish Kumar, Valeriano Rebelo, Majek Bolaji, Stanley Colaco (Dominic Noronha, 52), Raju Singh, Clifford Miranda, Riston Rodrigues (Mario Soares, 8), Johnny D’Cruz (Ishfaq Ahmed, 34), Naslimento Silveira, Ranty Martins, R.C. Prakash.
Referee: Ram Chandran (Malaysia).
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