R.C. Prakash drew first blood for East Bengal

New Delhi: East Bengal made a winning start to their Durand Cup campaign, defeating Hindustan Aeronautics Sports Club (HASC), Bangalore 2-0, but it was largely an unimpressive display by the Calcutta giants.

East Bengal knew they had JCT to contend with in their group who had thrashed HASC 4-0 earlier in the tournament. The red-and-gold brigade seemed to be on course for a matching result when R.C. Prakash headed in a Mike Okoro cross in the seventh minute.

East Bengal were all over the rival defence early on and custodian Balaji did well to push Sydney Nkalanga’s shot wide couple of minutes later.

Their second goal was a result of great teamwork as Nigerian Okoro, a catalyst in most of their attacks, had a neat interplay with Soumik Dey before crossing for Jatin Singh Bisht to head in after 22 minutes.

Slowly but surely, the Bangalore team found its feet in the match and had a goal disallowed by referee A Arjunan in the 29th minute for a foul committed on goalkeeper Naseem Akhtar.

After the lemon break, HASC missed a golden opportunity to get back into the match when Nanda Kumar missed a sitter.

He, along with Kuttymani, squandered several chances in the second half. The Calcutta giants surprisingly looked lacklustre in the second session. Only Okoro looked lively and tested the HASC defence on a regular basis.

East Bengal now need to beat JCT on Tuesday to advance to the last semi-finals. JCT need a draw to go through.

Meanwhile, Army XI made it to the last four stage at the expense of Goa’s Dempo Sports Club via lottery.

Dempo, the National League champions, drew their second group encounter 1-1 with Air India, Mumbai, which left them level on points, goal difference and goals scored with the Armymen.

Footballing gods then smiled on the soldiers as the draw of lots broke the deadlock in their favour.

Dempo went ahead in the 13th minute when Agnelo Martins latched on to a beautiful through ball from Ranti Martins before chipping over the custodian. Coach Maurico Afonso must have thought that his team was well on its way to the last four stage of the oldest football tournament in the country.

The Goans kept pressing for a second goal and the two Martins, along with Baba Tunde Badmus, failed to find the finishing touch.

Air India came out on the offensive after half-time and Uttam Singh and Benoy Kuruvilla tested Satish Kumar in the Dempo goal on several occasions.

However, the NFL champions could have settled the issue if they had taken advantage of a corner taken by Jules Alberto Dias, which caused a melee in the rival penalty box. But skipper Majek Bolaji failed to capitalise.

The Mumbai outfit restored parity in the 64th minute when Kuruvilla latched on to a pass from P. Shivalkar before finding the Dempo net.

Dempo were also not helped by Raju Singh being sent off for a second bookable offence late in the game. (PTI)