Bengal edges past Chandigarh and seals the semi-final berth!

by Spandan Paul March 25, 2018

25^th March’18,Kolkata : West Bengal won their third consecutive fixtures on the trot as they edge past a hapless Chandigarh side by a solitary goal and thus, sealed a confirmed berth in the semifinals of 72nd Santosh Trophy main stage.

Bidyashagar Singh scored the only goal of the match as Bengal rued the absence of star striker and skipper Jiten Murmu who was ruled out due to stomach ache. The solitary goal came in the 17^th minute. Chandigarh going into the match with two changes in starting XI had Pawandeep Singh and Manvir Singh making way for Prateek Joshi and Nitish Mehra-the substitute goalie.

Bengal dominated the proceedings from the word go and showed no signs of missing their prolific skipper as the makeshift captain Tirthankar Sarkar and Bubun Das orchestrated the play from the middle while Bidyashagar Singh and Sumit Das provided the much needed  impetus through the flanks. They had the first chance of the match in the 8^th minute when Bidyashagar curled in a brilliant free kick but Chandigarh keeper was up to the task and inflicted an acrobatic  save before Sumit missed a golden chance down the left flank.

Bengal got the breakthrough in the 17^th minute which turned out to be decisive in the end. Bidyashagar who was in dazzling form, cut through the middle from the right and took a cracking shot at the goal. The shot got a fateful deflection off the Chandigarh captain Rahul and sailed over the head of the Chandigarh custodian to settle into the back of the net and gave hosts the upper hand in the match.

3 minutes later Bidyashagar could’ve hit a brace but he lost his footing on an one to one situation with the goalie, and Chandigarh keeper was able to deny him by inflicting another crucial save. 7 minutes later Sandeep Singh made the first change for Chandigarh as Md. Quais Khan replaced Pankaj Singh in the back, to bolster the defence while Bengal ciontinued to have a lion’s share of possession through their skipper Tirthankar Sarkar, who displayed impeccable ball control and drew cheers from the stands; where spectators had gathered in large numbers to support their home team.

In the 36^th minute Bengal suffered a major blow when the centre defensive midfielder Manotosh Chakladar got hit at the back of his head and had to be taken off and his replacement Nabi Hussain got some gametime to play. Chandigarh was fortunate enough not to concede another one at the stroke of the half time when Nitish Mehra’s goalkick fell to Bidyashagar, who sprinted through the right  but was at fault of not hitting it earlier, as he got dispossessed by a sea of onrushing Chandigarh defenders & the scoreline remained intact at the break.

Second half started with Chandigarh showing much more intent but couldn’t get the better of a compact Bengal backline. Bengal surprisingly took a step backward in the second half and was seen taking a pragmatic approach, trying to replicate Chandigarh’s long ball strategy. It was not at all  the characteristic gameplay by the defending champions who seemed horribly out of touch for a short phase as long ball play never suited them.

Chandigarh had couple of chances in between this phase through U-21 Vivek Rana and forward Prateek Joshi who failed to convert those chances. In the 71^st minute Vivek Rana had the best of the chances when Bengal goalie Ranajit goalie misjudged a flighted ball and his half-hearted attempt to save, saw it fell to Vivek; who should’ve slotted it home from 10 yards within the box; but he shot it wide to the utter disbelief of Chandigarh players.

Bengal had their last glorious chance in the 85^th minute when a scintillating curling corner kick by Tirthankar was well kept outside by the Chandigarh custodian. 3 minutes after it Chandigarh had the best overall chance to restore the parity but Nikhil Prasher‘s header from the box got hit into the crossbar and the rebound volley from Prateek Joshi was well off the target to gift Bengal a spot in the semi-final as referee blew the final whistle shortly.

West Bengal  will play their final match of the group stage on March 27 against Kerala ,for the top position in the culmination of  “group of death” while Chandigarh ends their woeful  Santosh Trophy campaign with three defeats in four matches.