Rajat Ghosh Dastidar

Ludhiana: Edmilson Marques starred in East Bengal’s 2-1 victory over JCT in a National Football League (NFL) match at Guru Nanak Stadium here on Monday.

Edmilson scored both goals and was expectedly adjudged Man-of-the-Match. East Bengal’s newest Brazilian recruit gave his side the lead in the 14th minute when he singlehandedly opened up the JCT defence and scored with a brilliant shot.

The striker scored again with another excellent effort three minutes before half-time.

East Bengal now have 10 points from five games, while JCT stay on five.

JCT opened aggressively and raided the East Bengal defence a few times, but failed to get the ball into the rival goal. Chidi Edeh got two fine opportunities but failed to convert both times.

That was in the early minutes, before East Bengal had scored. Had the Nigerian managed to score even once, East Bengal may not have had it so easy.

Two goals in arrears at the halfway stage, JCT tried their best to salvage a point after change of ends. They pushed men in front, but a goal remained elusive.

Within five minutes into the second session, the Phagwara millmen got two chances in quick successsion. But the alertness of East Bengal goalkeeper Rajat Ghosh Dastidar helped the Calcutta giants keep their citadel intact.

Rajat, in fact, was showed the yellow card for time-wasting, as East Bengal tried to slow down proceedings. The red-and-golds became cautious, thinking a two-goal cushion was safe enough.

It was just five minutes from full time that JCT managed to pull one back, through a Baldeep Singh (sr) header. But there was no time left for the equaliser. (PTI)