Clinical Salgaocar stun blunt East Bengal

by Kaushal Shukla February 8, 2015

Salgaocar SC produced a clinical display to overcome Kingfisher East Bengal 3-1 in an I-League encounter held at the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Fatorda, Goa on 7th February 2015.

Salgaocar came into this game on the back of a derby win over Sporting Club de Goa, while Kingfisher East Bengal came into the game unbeaten after victories over Shillong Lajong and Champions Bengalauru
It were the visitors who started the game in the ascendancy, dominating majority of the ball in the opening exchanges.

But Salgaocar had the best chance in the first quarter of an hour when Douhou Pierre won the ball in midfield before driving at the East Bengal defence to set up Darryl Duffy in the 12th minute, whose shot’s sting was taken out thanks to a block by the East Bengal defender amidst appeals for a hand ball, which were waved off by the referee.
Seven minutes later, East Bengal had their best moment of the game so far, when Ranti Martins headed over a brilliant cross from Abinash Ruidas.

East Bengal continued to dictate most of the play, with 61% of possession by the 25th minute, but failed to make it count. Salgaocar were trying to push up the field, thus preventing East Bengal to gain a firm control on the ball. They succeeded in doing so as they broke the rhythm of the East Bengal players.

Salgaocar took the lead in the 42nd minute, through Douhou Pierre who was the beneficiary of some brilliant piece of play from Darryl Duffy who broke into the box to set Douhou Pierre for his opener.

The goal was against the run of play and East Bengal were looking rattled as we approached half time.
Salgaocar went on to double their lead before half time, when Darryl Duffy finished emphatically in the first minute of stoppage from inside the box.

The half time score wasn’t the exact reflection of the game, as East Bengal had dominated large parts of the half, only to find themselves behind to a couple of sucker punches.

East Bengal came storming out in the second half. Ranti Martins put a header just over after a fine cross from Deepak Kumar Mondal in the 48th minute.

East Bengal were putting intense pressure on Salgaocar in the opening ten minutes and had a header cleared off the line in the 55th minute.

Despite piling on the pressure, East Bengal failed to make inroads in the solid Salgaocar defense, as East Bengal threw Mohammed Rafique in place on Abhinash Ruidas in the 62nd minute. But it was Salgaocar who struch again in the 65th minute, after Brian Mascarenhas chested down a cross from Gilbert Oliveira before firing past Subrata Roy Choudhary in the East Bengal.

East Bengal then brought on Subodh Kumar in place of Sukhwinder Singh in the 75th minute. Just a minute later, East Bengal managed to pull a goal back as Dudu Omagbemi tapped him from close range after a goal mouth scramble.

The goal gave East Bengal a glimmer of hope and they were looking to further reduce the deficit. Salgaocar brought on Bikash Jairu in place of goalscorer Brian Mascarenhas in the 82nd minute.

Salgaocar were able to hold East Bengal for the remainder of the game as they recorded their second successive victory in this season’s I-League.

Salgaocar coach Derrick Pereira expressed his delight at the win and hailing striker Darryl Duffy’s influence on the game. “I am very happy with the performance. We got our forward play going. Darryl Duffy had a brilliant game despite not being fully fit. He was a constant threat for for the East Bengal back line”. Derrick also spoke about the challenge ahead as he prepared his side for an away game in Mumbai’s Cooperage Stadium. “We now look forward to playing against Mumbai which will be a very tough game. We will be practising on astro turfs to prepare ourselves for the Cooperage pitch”.

In the other games, Mohun Began shot down high flying Pune FC with a 1-0 win at the Salt Lake stadium, while Salgaocar’s arch rivals Dempo could only manage a 1-1 draw away in Shillong against Royal Wahingdoh.