Alvito D’Cunha congratulates Boniface Ambani after Tuesday’s NFL match. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta: East Bengal came back from behind to beat Mahindra United 2-1 and give Dempo the National Football League (NFL) for the ONGC Cup.

Mahindra, who had an outside chance of pipping Dempo if they could have won their last two games, thus remained on 27 points. No other team can now match Dempo’s tally of 33. The champions have a game in hand as well (versus Mohun Bagan on Friday).

JCT, who are in second place with 28 points, end their campaign against East Bengal on Saturday.

Back to Tuesday’s game. East Bengal rode Man-of-the-Match Boniface Ambani’s brace to earn full points from a game that initially appeared to be going Mahindra’s way.

The visitors started off on an aggressive note. The error-prone East Bengal defence made it easy for Mahindra in the early minutes. With Mensah and Yusif Yakubu operating up front, Mahindra went all out for a goal, launching a series of forays.

They could have gone ahead in the 16th minute when a Yakubu shot from an S. Venkatesh corner-kick missed the target narrowly.

The Mumbai outfit took the lead in the 28th minute when Pomeyie Andrew Mensah latched on to an N.P. Pradeep pass to scoop the ball over an advancing Rajat Ghosh Dastidar. Pradeep, who had a decent outing, was marched off in the 87th minute for punching Jayanta Sen.

Mahindra got a bit complacent and helped the hosts get back into the game.

It was Mahindra’s turn to commit mistakes now. East Bengal came close to equalising in the 34th minute when Jayanta, trapping a misspass just outside the top box, unleashed a powerful shot which missed by a whisker.

Sensing his chance, East Bengal coach Carlos Roberto Pereira brought in Fredy Mascarenhas for Vimal Pariyar.

Ambani found the equaliser on the stroke of half-time with a brilliant lob over an advancing Mahindra custodian, after receiving a through pass from skipper Alvito D’Cunha.

The red-and-golds started the second half from where they had left off in the first. Six minutes on, Ambani scored again. Jayanta, who was brilliant in the midfield, essayed a dream pass after dodging two defenders. The lanky Nigerian pushed the ball past goalkeeper Subhasish Roy Chowdhury.

A minute later, Ambani could have completed a hattrick. His goal-bound shot took a deflection off a defender and went out.

The Mahindra coach introduced a couple of changes which didn’t yield the desired result.

TEAMS

East Bengal: Rajat Ghosh Dastidar, Gurpreet Singh, Cristiano de Oliviera, Covan Lawrence, M. Suresh, Saumik Dey, Shylo Malsawmtluanga, Jayanta Sen, Alvito D’Cunha, Vimal Pariayar (Freddy Mascarenhas, 39), Bonniface Ambani (Dipankar Roy, 87)

Mahindra United: Subhasish Roy Chowdhury, Mahesh Gawli, NP Pradeep, Mbaka Dady, K. Ajayan, Susanth Matthew, Steven Dias, S. Venkatesh (Samson Fernandes, 57), James Singh (Mohammed Rafi, 57), Yusif Yakubu, Andrew Mensah

Referee: S Suresh

MoM: B. Ambani