Calcutta: It is better late than never. East Bengal more than established the adage as they rode a brace from Tolgay Ozebe to beat reigning champions Dempo 3-2 at the Salt Lake Stadium, on Sunday.
With this win the red and gold brigade have 47 points from 22 matches, behind Salgaocar (50 from 24 matches) and Churchill Brothers (47 from 24). East Bengal thus took a giant leap in their quest for regaining the title. They have four matches remaining, including away games against Salgaocar and Churchill.
Replete with high drama, Sunday’s clash did live up to the title of battle royale. Right before the start of the second half, two spectators hurled stones at Dempo midfielder Kalu Ogba, who was carried off the field. The two miscreants were arrested, and Kalu returned soon after a medical check-up.
Three red cards were shown in the ill-tempered match with East Bengal being reduced to nine men in the closing stages.
Dempo started on the offensive, managing to do the damage within the first seven minutes of the game. Ranty Martins sent home a pass from Clifford Miranda to give the visitors an easy lead. The East Bengal defence misjudged in clearing the free kick from outside the penalty area. The hosts, however, missed an early chance when Syed Rahim Nabi failed to convert a Naoba Singh free kick in the fourth minute.
Thereafter, it was a saga of missed opportunities for both the sides, especially East Bengal, who seemed to have lost their rhythm and looked scattered. Dempo’s defence played stubbornly and nullified all rival attempts.
When the second half started, after a delay of more than 15 minutes, recovery was written all over East Bengal’s game. The best form of defence is offence and that is what Trevor Morgan’s boys stuck to. Within a minute of resumption, the hosts scored the equaliser. Baljit Sahni tapped Harmanjot Singh Khabra’s centre from the right to level the scores. The celebrations had not ended when three minutes later, the team’s highest scorer Tolgay did what he does best. A corner found the Australian inside the box, who successfully netted it on his second attempt.
One might say the lead fuelled their ambitions, as there was only more to come. After a seemingly effortless solo run Tolgay launched a quickfire shot that caught rival goalkeeper Subhasish Roychowdhury completely unaware to give East Bengal a 3-1 in the 57th minute. As Tolgay kissed the camera after his second, the crowd went berserk.
Fighting the impending defeat, despondence and the gruelling heat, Dempo were reduced to 10 men when Miranda was sent off in the 59th minute by referee Dinesh Nair for shoving him twice while the latter was protesting Mahesh Gawli’s yellow card decision.
East Bengal equalised in this front too, as Gurwinder Singh was shown the red card in the 68th minute for stamping the back of substitute Rouhollah Samieinia. With ten minutes of injury time awarded by the referee, Dempo went on the offensive.
In the penultimate minute, the Goan giants earned a penalty as Nirmal Chetri was shown the red card for a handball while trying to stop a shot from Climax. Making use of the opportunity, Beto reduced the margin by successfully converting the spot kick.
In other matches, Pune FC and Mumbai FC dished out a 1-1 draw in Pune, JCT came from behind to hold Chirag United 2-2 in Ludhiana and Salgaocar defeated Indian Arrows 3-1.
TEAMS
East Bengal: Uga Okpara, Baljit Sahni (Nirmal Chetri, 70’), Harmanjot Singh Khabra (Ravinder Singh, 73’), Mehtab Hossain, Gurwinder Singh, Sushanth Mathew, Penn Orji (Sanju Pradhan 82’), Syed Rahim Nabi, Tolgay Ozebe, Sandip Nandy, Naoba Singh
Dempo: Subhasish Roychowdhury, Debabrata Roy, John Dias, Peter Carvalho, Climax Lawrence, Ranti Martins (Samir Naik, 83’), Roberto Silva, Kalu Ogba (Rouhollah Samieinia 64’), Clifford Miranda, Valeriano Rebello, Mahesh Gawli (Joaquim Abranches).
Referee: Dinesh Nair
