Mohammedan Sporting scorers (from left) Bolwe Mputu, Satyajit Bose, and Okonji Patrick in Salt Lake Stadium on Thursday. Picture by Gautam Bose

Calcutta: The opening match of the 111th IFA Shield was witness to the fact that it is actually the foreigners who hold the key for the city clubs.

This is therefore the saga of Okonji Onyelo Patrick who helped Mohammedan Sporting register a 3-2 win over East Bengal at the Salt Lake stadium on Thursday.

Mike Okoro and Sydney Nkalanga started it well for the red and gold brigade. Their attack in the 16th minute was brilliantly saved by Sporting goalie Arindam Ghosh. The duo made another good move in the 26th minute, but failed to penetrate the black and white defence.

However, East Bengal supporters had their heart in their mouths when a Mputu cross from the box missed the top bar in the 33rd minute.

It was Patrick who drew the first blood for the black and white brigade in the 43rd minute off a Mohammed Yasin pass. The equaliser came from Chandan Das, whose powerful right footer from outside the box in the 68th minute found the net.

Sporting took the lead in the 72nd minute when Patrick’s pass found Satyajit Bose who netted the ball in East Bengal’s net. In the 80th minute, it was once again Patrick who set a pass for Mputu who slotted it to the East Bengal goal. The victory bells were already sounding for the black and white brigade.

But a goalmouth melee saw Malsawmtluanga netting the ball in the 89th minute to decrease the margin for East Bengal.

Teams

East Bengal: Abhra Mondal (goalkeeper), Sasthi Duley, Covan Lawrence, Gurpreet Singh, Debabrata Roy, Malsawmtluanga, Debjit Ghosh (Nduti 46, Kulothungan 69), Chandan Das, Dipankar Roy (R.C. Prakash 84), Mike Okoro, Sydney Nkalanga.

Mohammedan Sporting : Arindam Ghosh (goalkeeper), Bijay Basfore (Kabijit Khotel 76), Wajid Ali, Madhusudhan Majumdar, Farooq Hyder, Jiten Rai (Md Mukhtar 15), Satyajit Bose, Okonji Onyelo Patrick, Bolwe Mputu (Bilal Ahmed Wani 81), Md Yasin, Gopal Das.

Referee: S. Suresh