I-League: Robin Singh stars as East Bengal stun Bengaluru FC 2-1; superb Mahmoud goal helps Aizawl down MFC

Courtesy: Twitter (@ILeagueOfficial)

Barasat/Mumbai: East Bengal and Aizawl FC registered convincing wins against defending champions Bengaluru FC and Mumbai FC respectively in Hero I-League on Sunday.

In the early kick-off, striker Robin Singh struck the match-winner as Bengal made a stunning second-half comeback to upset defending champions Bengaluru FC 2-1 in a high-profile I-League football clash.

Robin struck in the 79th minute to give East Bengal full points after team-mate Ivan Bukenya (28th minute) had cancelled out Bengaluru striker C K Vineeth's goal in the 23rd minute.

The win will be a big boost to East Bengal's campaign in their bid for an elusive I-League title as they are now two points behind arch-rivals Mohun Bagan (10) at the second place while the reigning champions Bengaluru were pushed to third place with nine points.

Vineeth found the East Bengal net when he touched the ball to the far corner from an unmarked run to give Bengaluru a first-half lead.

East Bengal recovered after the jolt with Lalrindika Ralte providing the assist and Ivan Bukenya finding the target to put the home team back in the game in the 28th minute.

In front of a boisterous home crowd, East Bengal's moment finally came in the 79th minute from a sloppy back pass from Sena Ralte to defender Juanan who was caught out.

Robin seized on the opportunity seeing Willis Plaza going to his side but this time he chose to go for the goal himself and finished it wonderfully, smashing past Amrinder Singh.

There were a string of attacks by Bengaluru FC in the second half but East Bengal defence lived up to the challenge to thwart all of them and hand them the first loss of the season which came in their very first away match.

The match had its share of intense moments when Mehtab Hossain and India captain Sunil Chhetri were seen jostling and having a near bust-up minutes after East Bengal equalised.

The match got off to a sedate start with both teams involved in patient buildup trying to probe each other's weakness and it was the Chhetri-led side who stamped their authority early in the game with some domineering display.

Enjoying the lion's share of possession, the Blues conjured up the first chance of the match when an overlapping Khabra's cross was somehow cleared by Gurwinder Singh with Vineeth lurking behind, ready to head it into goal.

This was preceded by Chhetri trying to make something happen out of absolutely nothing as he tried to manoeuvre a shot towards the far corner but Rehenesh palmed it out with the ball dropping in front of the goalkeeper before the defence dealt with it.

In the 22nd minute, the Indian captain tried to score a scorcher from the edge of the box with a volley off a Khabra cross before Bengaluru finally surged to the lead courtesy of Vineeth a minute later.

The defending champions nearly took the lead again before the break when Eugeneson took a shot from an acute angle but T P Rehenesh pulled off a smart save.

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Later in the day, Aizawl FC stunned hosts Mumbai FC 1-0 in a fourth round encounter at the Cooperage ground to keep their slate clean.

The only goal of the match was a superb effort in the 79th minute by Syrian Mahmoud Al Amna, who positioned himself perfectly to meet a cross from the left which he blasted home with an angular drive beating MFC keeper Laxmikant Kattimani all ends up.

Only a little while earlier had the foreigner missed a golden chance to break the deadlock by shooting wide a gilt-edged pass, but made amends with his match-winning goal, off a pass provided by under 22 wing back Lalruatthara.

Aizawl, in fact, deserved the victory as they showed more attacking instincts and combined better than the hosts. Jayesh Rane worked tirelessly in the midfield for the team from the north east.

The visitors, coached by Khalid Jamil who was MFC coach last year, totally dominated the second half after having the better share of the proceedings in the first.

The victory was the third in a row for Aizawl who had beaten newcomers Minerva Academy 1-0 and then fellow-north easterners Shillong Lajong FC 2-1 prior to that after having held formidable Eat Bengal to a 1-1 draw.

The win also took their points tally to ten and moved up to third on the table. The loss, the second successive one for MFC, coached by Santosh Kashyap, following their 0-3 rout by defending champions Bengaluru FC in a previous away game, kept the home team down to fifth with six points from four games. MFC had started the season with back to back wins over DSK

Shivajians and Churchill Brothers before losing to Bengaluru.

The Mumbai outfit started with a packed defense and they were made to put in extra efforts and they did well to arrest the flow of attacks from the Aizawl forwards.

The Mumbai frontline also made a couple of raids towards the rival goal with Thoi Singh going wide from close and later his teasing cross from the right was comfortably collected by Aizawl custodian Albino Gomes.

The faster Aizwal attack came close in the very second minute when Albert Zohmingmawia sent a low ball across the Mumbai FC goal, but Bayi Kamo blasted over from just outside the six yard box.

Later the Mumbai goalkeeper Kattimani parried over Albert's snap shot from the right in the 26th minute.

Goalkeeper Kattimani once again came to the rescue of his team as he charged out in the nick of time to foil Mehta after the latter had latched on to Rane's defense-splitting through pass in the 34th minute.

Crossing over it was the visitors who looked better and better before they finally broke the deadlock and then kept the lead intact till the end.