Action during East Bengal’s National League match against Vasco at the Kanchenjungha Stadium in Siliguri on Saturday. Picture by Kundan Yolmo

Siliguri: It was near, but not near enough. Defending champions East Bengal finished third in the ninth edition of the National Football League (NFL) for the ONGC Cup after they ended their campaign with a 1-3 loss in their final outing against Vasco SC at the Kanchenjungha Stadium on Saturday.

Dempo emerged champions, with 47 points, ahead of Sporting Clube de Goa (45). East Bengal finished on 43 points.

Two Brazilians in the Vasco outfit conjured up some samba sorcery to mesmerise the rather bemused boys among the red-golds. The 3-1 scoreline in the favour of the Goans tells the day’s story, as it was.

While Anthony Pereira (2) and Fabio Sores were the scorers for Vasco, Sandip Das provided the consolation goal for East Bengal with a lucky touch off a Debjit Ghosh free-kick.

Sores, who was eventually adjudged the Man of the Match, and fellow Brazilian Sidney Rodrigues were very impressive not only in their ball skill, but also in their commitment to the cause. If Sores was here, there and everywhere, the latter managed to win the hearts of the partisan Siliguri crowd by playing on despite suffering a nasty cut on his head after a clash with East Bengal skipper Ghosh, who was red-carded for the offence.

The Goan outfit took the lead in the 23rd minute after a neat bout of short passes, which was put to count when Periera gently lobbed over the East Bengal goalie Sangram Mukherjee.

Vasco were making several meaningful forays into rival territory, thanks to a non-existent midfield. There was absolute lack of cohesion, giving an impression that they had entered the field without any definite gameplan.

Vasco increased the lead immediately after resumption, when Sores finished off a wonderful one-two with Rodrigues by placing the ball to the right of the East Bengal custodian from the left of the penalty area.

The Calcutta giants got a lucky break when Sanjib Das deflected an attempted goal-bound free-kick by their skipper Ghosh from just outside the penalty area. This happened in the 55th minute. However, on a day when, as their coach Subash Bhowmik claimed later, they played their worst soccer of the season, that was to be their only moment, as immediately after it, Ghosh was shown the read card by Malaysian referee Mohamad Sukri for a dangerous tackle on Rodrigues.

And, a little later in the 65th minute of the match, Vasco sealed the fate of the by then 10-men East Bengal who, incidentally, had blanked them 3-0 in their home game, when Periera lend a finishing touch to another bout of football tango with, who else, but Sores.

TEAMS

Vasco SC: Virendra Singh, Agnelo Colaco, Samson Fernandes, Vine Jose, Kamal Thapa, Sushanth Mathew, Menino Fernandes, Sidney Rodrigues, Anees K, Anthony Pereira (Levy Coelho), Fabio Sores.

East Bengal: Sangram Mukherjee, Surya Bikash Chakraborty (Bijen Singh), Debjit Ghosh, Habibur Rahaman Mondal, Syed Rahim Nabi, Sandip Das, Shylo Malsawmtluanga, Climax Lawrence (Bhola Prasad), Subhas Chakraborty (Chandan Das) and E C Jeremiah.

Referee: Mohamad Sukri