Calcutta: Fortune favours the brave. East Bengal were not the best team on the turf against Chonburi FC, on Wednesday, but showed enough grit to draw their opening AFC Cup game 4-4 against the team from Thailand.

There was no dearth of skill from the visitors or from East Bengal striker Tolgay Ozebe, who put the hosts on lead in the seventh minute.

East Bengal kept the visitors under pressure initially as they enjoyed a lion’s share of the possession. They smartly found the gaps and pressed for the second goal that eventually came in the 22nd minute. Tolgay tussled with Chonlatit as he struggled to wrestle past the Thai defender and his shot on the slide took deflection to slip through the right corner.

Chonburi’s moment arrived when captain Pipob On-Mo scored on rebound. Ekaphan fired one at the East Bengal custodian Sandip Nandy, who parried it back into play. Pipob, who was inside the box, slammed it home from close range.

The Sharks tasted blood and another strike almost looked imminent. The players knit together a series of passes before medio Adul Lahso unleashed a strong right-footer from outside the 18-yard box two minutes before half-time. Pipob produced his second and team’s third goal three minutes after the change of ends. Inthasen then gave the visitors a 4-2 lead in the 54th minute.

But substitute Baljit Sahni took advantage of a defensive lapse in the 75th minute to reduce the margin to 4-3. Ravinder Singh then scored from penalty and East Bengal brought parity into the game.

Trevor Morgan, who watched his team leap back into the game, said, “The Thai showed some great movement and they played in short passes. But East Bengal showed the character to come back into the match. “When Tolgay came off, we lost his place up front as there are few who can move as freely like him. We also conceded some poor goals. But our third goal was the turning point. Once he (Baljit) netted it, the crowd supported us and the players responded to it,” he said.

Teams

East Bengal: Sandip Nandy, Uga Okpara, Thokchom Naoba, Sanju Pradhan, Reisangmi Vashum (Ravinder Singh, 59’), Mehtab Hossain, Gurwinder Singh, Penn Orji, Tolgay Ozebe (Santos, 33’), Robin Singh, Saumik Dey.

Chonbori FC: Sinthaweechai Hathairattanakool, Suree Sukha, Suttinun Phukhom (Jetsadakorn Hemdaeng, 77’), Ekaphan Inthasen, Pipob On-Mo (Ney Fabiano, 66’), Anucha Kitpongsri (Arthit Sunthornphit, 73’), Therdsak Chaiman, Darko Rakocevic, Adul Lahso, Kazuto Kushida, Chonlatit Jantakam.

Referee: HDC Perera