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ShareMumbai: East Bengal finally ended their winless run at the Cooperage, edging past Air India by a slender 1-0 margin in a seventh round I-League encounter on Saturday.
Abel Hammond's header in the 29th minute ensured that the Kolkata side managed to get all three points at this venue for the first time since December 2003. This is East Bengal's second straight win under their caretaker coach Tushar Rakshit, though newly appointed coach Phillip de Ridder and star striker Baichung Bhutia watched the proceedings from the stands.
Though Air India had the lion's share of possession in the second half -- despite losing defender Behnam Foroughirad and goalkeeper Arnab Das Sarma due to injuries -- they lacked sharpness in their attack.
In many ways, the collision between Behnam and Sarma was the turning point of the match. Confusion to clear a cross from Nirmal Chhetri resulted in a clash between the two in the 24th minute and for five minutes the play was held up. When the play resumed in the 29th minute, East Bengal made the most of the unsettled Air India defence.
Ghosh was forced to make twin changes as Harpreet Singh and Sambhu Mistry replaced
Behnam and Arnab, respectively. Behnam's substitution also meant that Air India played the remaining one hour with all Indian players, something which is a rare sight in Indian football these days.
East Bengal had a chance to bolster their lead but Srecko Mitrovic's long range attempt hit the inside of the crossbar. Air India looked a galvanised bunch in the second half and had the visitors on the back foot during the entire 45 minutes of action. But beating around the bush didn't help Air India much as they hardly made East Bengal custodian Avijit Ghosh sweat.
The airmen sorely missed Nigerian ND Opara up front. Their best chance of the match came in the 75th minute when Ghosh came out of his line to deal with a Vijith Shetty cross but Dada Nabeel's shot in an open goal situation went miles over the cross bar.
Air India are now placed 12th in the table with one more round to go before the season break. "We need a good stopper back and striker desperately. I think that would do the trick for us. Today, after the two early substitutions it was always difficult for us,"
Ghosh remarked.
