Margao: Kolkata giants East Bengal rode on
their luck to beat hosts Sporting Clube de Goa by a solitary
goal in the round 13 I-league match at the Nehru Stadium,
Fatorda, this evening.
Sporting missed a barrage of chances in the first session
and had to pay heavily for their ineptness as the Federation
Cup Champions struck the winner through Yusuf Yakubu five
minutes before the end to compound further misery on the
bottom placed team.
Sporting's confidence surprised East Bengal, who played
second fiddle for a major part. The Goans made early inroads
but winger Bisheshwor Singh's left-footed drive sailing over
just five minutes into the match.
Sporting midfield controlled the pace of the match with
Nigerian Michael Tayo and winger Nicholas Rodrigues joining
the attack pushing the rival defense on the back foot.
The hosts created openings but striker Junior Ovagmiro
wasted two decent chances midway through. In the 28th minute,
Vishwas Gaonkar's side again came close as Nicholas floated a
ball in the box where the lanky Nathaniel Amos out jumped
rival defender Uga Opkara to lay for Tayo who connected well
but East Bengal keeper Abhra Mondal in an effort to catch lost
grasp on the ball and as Nathaniel was about to get his foot
Okpara somehow managed to clear the ball away at the expense
of a corner kick.
What followed later was even more frustrating for the
hosts. Winger Nicholas moving down the left flank curled in a
superb cross for the unmarked Nathaniel which the Nigerian
headed wide with a gaping goal in full view with eight minutes
remaining for the break.
After restart, East Bengal were able to get back the
momentum on their side and Yakubu latching on to a clever pass
by Baichung Bhutia almost broke the dead lock in the 55th
minute had not Sporting defender Mathew Gonsalves come up with
a neat challenge to dispose the Ghanaian.
With the visitors also standing up to the challenge the
local side was unable to create the chances which were just
coming so easily in the first half although striker Junior
Obagmiro tried hard to get past the rival defenders.
With the match nearing closing stages it seemed that
Sporting were at least good for a point but Alvito D'Cunha had
other ideas. The former international controlled a forward
pass inside the crowded box from his skipper Syed Rahim Nabi
and as rival keeper Felix D'Souza dashed out the crafty left
footed winger immediately switched to Yakubu who had just to
nod the ball into an empty net with five minutes remaining for
the final hooter.
After the match ended a section of the crowd vented its
anger on the officials and assaulted the referee A Arjunan.
Police stationed at the stadium immediately swung into action
and arrested the offenders.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, February 03, 2010, 23:15