Calcutta: East Bengal rode referee Dipu Roy's benevolence to beat NBP Rainbow AC 1-0 in a CFL Premier Division A match at the club ground on Sunday. In the 25th minute, Surabuddin Mallick broke into the Rainbow AC half. Sourav Roy had a faintest touch on Surabuddin's body, and the forward, getting a rare start, smartly fell. Referee Roy did not have any hesitation in pointing to the dreaded spot. Television replays showed that it was Surabuddin's play-acting more than anything else which earned East Bengal the dubious penalty. Lalram Chullova converted from the spot without much ado. In the 20th minute, Joby Justin missed a free header off a Kamalpreet Singh centre.
If the 20,000-strong crowd expected more goals, they were in for a rude shock. All the festivities, chanting were gone after the change of ends and the fans started hurling choicest of abuses as Rainbow AC took control of the match.
The likes of Sujay Dutta and Penn Orji ran the East Bengal defence ragged and with a little bit of luck in front of the goal they could have left the pitch with one point, if not three.
The visitors came close to score an equaliser in the 52nd minute. Lalram Chullova made a mess of a simple clearance and Sujay Dutta unleashed a shot at goal from a very close range. But thanks to East Bengal goalkeeper Rakshit Dagar's reflexes the ball was kept out. Joel Sunday tried to tap in from the rebound but the linesman signalled offside.
Rainbow's build-ups were very eye-catching and the pace of Sujay made life miserable for the likes Mehtab Singh, Kingshuk Debnath and Kassim Aidara. With Kamalpreet pulling out in the 55th minute, East Bengal were all the more vulnerable at the centre of the park.
Deep into the second-half injury time, substitute Paltu Das missed the evening's easiest chance when he failed to convert with only Dagar to beat.
Clearly, the red-and-gold brigade lacked the flair and quality and were lucky to log full points.
"It was a tough match... We struggled due to heavy conditions. But in the end we managed to win, " Man of the Match Mahmud Al Amna said at the post-match media conference. <>Coach Bastab Roy blamed four matches in 10 days for East Bengal's average performance in front of the capacity crowd. "Players are tired. I am not thinking about the Mohun Bagan match on September 2. Our next target is to win on Wednesday," he said.
