Ludhiana: Sunday’s tough Federation Cup quarter final between East Bengal and JCT momentarily brought back memories of 2004 when Dempo’s Brazilian striker Cristiano Junior had a fatal injury after colliding with Mohun Bagan goalkeeper Subrata Paul in the Federation Cup final at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bangalore.

On Sunday, Paul — now with East Bengal — was again under the bar but the action was at the other end where JCT goalkeeper Karanjit Singh fell unconscious for a while after clashing with striker Edmilson at the Guru Nanak Stadium in Ludhiana.

The incident happened towards the closing stages when Edmilson hammered the final nail in the JCT coffin with his fourth strike of the tournament and clashed with the goalkeeper in the process.

Unlike in 2004, however, prompt and adequate attention ensured that Karanjit was rushed to the nearby Arora Hospital where he was declared out of danger. He underwent a head scan.

“Karanjit was elbowed by Edmilson and remained senseless for a while. He will be kept under observation for 24 hours,” said JCT manager Parminder Singh.

East Bengal coach Subrata Bhattacharya, naturally delighted with the win, described it as a bigger victory than the first-round triumph over Mohammedan Sporting.

Bhattacharya who refused to comment on Tuesday’s semi-final with Mohun Bagan, said he was impressed by the performance of Jayanta Sen in particular and the midfield in general.

JCT coach Sukhwinder Singh blamed the defeat on the failure star trio Sunil Chhetri, Escobar and Marcos Pereira.

Sukhwinder had no hesitation in admitting that his team deserved to lose. “East Bengal certainly played well,” he said.