Abel Hammond

Mumbai: East Bengal recorded their second successive win in the I-League, edging Air India 1-0 in a hard-fought encounter here on Saturday.

Abel Hammond’s 29th-minute header proved to be good enough for the Calcutta giants, who recorded their first win against Air India at the Cooperage since 2003. After being winless in the first five rounds, East Bengal have now earned three points from an away match for the second time in a row. Their previous win was against Viva Kerala.

The hosts were done in by injuries to Behnam Foroughirad and goalkeeper Arnab Das Sharma, midway through the first half. Even before coach Bimal Ghosh could replace them, Subhash Singh received a corner kick and set it up for Hammond to score.

The visitors could have added to their tally, but Srecko Metrovic’s right-footer bounced off the goalline after hitting the bar.

In the second half, Yusif Yakubu’s free-kick was blocked by Sambhu Mistry, who replaced Arnab, and Hammond’s tap from the rebound hit the far post. However, the assistant referee’s flag had gone up by then.

It was not that Air India could not create chances. Ghosh’s men piled on the pressure in the second half.

Dada Nabeel missed the mark in the 70th minute, when his shot went over the bar. Later, A slow Tapan Maity was foiled inside the box.

The loss of Foroughirad and Arnab proved to be a real blow. Ghosh’s strategy of using the tall Harpreet Singh for headers never worked as the latter hardly moved up.

Adding insult to injury, Henry Ghangte and captain Soccor Velho picked up yellow cards and would miss the next match, against Mahindra United, on Thursday.

East Bengal now have nine points, one less than archrivals Mohun Bagan. Air India, on the other hand, have just five points from six games.

Syed Rahim Nabi had a mixed feeling about the team’s victory. “We have won back to matches now and both (Viva Kerala and Air India) were tough teams. It has given us the confidence and boosted our morale,” Nabi said.

“But they (Air India) didn’t play that well and missed some chances today. I think we played better against Mahindra United(in a second round match) although we didn’t get three points.”

Teams

East Bengal: Avijit Ghosh; Nirmal Chetri, Uga Okpara, Govin Singh, Jibon Singh (Alvito D’Cunha, 82); Abel Hammond, Mehrajuddin Wadoo, Srecko Metrovic (Harmanjot Singh Khabra, 89), Syed Rahim Nabi; Yusif Yakubu, Subhash Singh (Riston Rodrigues, 65).

Air India: Arnab Das Sharma (Sambhu Mistry, 35); Syed Farid, Khelemba Singh, Behnam Foroughirad (Harpreet Singh, 33), Ravinder Singh; Soccor Velho, Henry Gangte, Vijith Shetty, Tapan Maity; Dada Nabeel, Reuben D’Souza (Uttam Singh, 60).

Referee: P. Baskar.

Man of the Match: Abel Hammond.