Tuesday, November 27, 2012

East Bengal edge past Salgaocar by 1-0 margin, remain on the top of the table.





             Kolkata giant East Bengal beat Salgaocar 1-0 margin in their 8th round clash of I-League at Salt Lake stadium today, secure their place on the top of the table. Edeh Chiddi scored the priceless solitary goal for the home side on the 66th minute of the match.
         This was a battle of two experienced coaches Trevor Morgan & David Booth, belong to a same nation England. Win was necessary for the both the sides, East Bengal needed it for retaining their position on the top while Salgaocar needed it for coming out of the relegation zone.
         Morgan & Booth started with the same line up they used in their previous matches. East Bengal with Chiddi & Manandeep in up front while Salgaocar started with a lone striker formation with Sean Rooney only in the up front.
          Both the sides had their chances in the first half. East Bengal seeking of home advantage started to dominate the game from the beginning, they could have a very early lead if Arnab Mondal could nest the ball from Mehtab’s corner. Sean Rooney of Salagaocar also failed to convert in front of the six yard box. Mannandeep also spoilted the chances in few occasions, Penn Orji also made a blunder from the inside of the box.
           In the second half the Red & Gold brigade became desperate to score, Penn Orji started to dominate the midfield, following a through ball from Penn, Chiddi tried to test visitor’s custodian Karanjit by a volley from the left side of the box, Karnajit exactly predicted & dived towards the right direction of that volley but unfortunately his own teammate Rocas Lemere guided the ball by a poor clearance attempt deflection towards the other direction to past inside the net, Karanjit remained a silent visitor.
         After that goal both the sides had few more chances, they failed to convert, of course the visitors had a golden opportunity to equalize in the death while their captain Luciano Sabrosa headed the ball in the hand of East Bengal goalkeeper Gurpreet Sing Sandhu following a corner from Francis Fernandez.
         Now East Bengal are leading the table with 20 points from 8 matches while Salgaocar is standing on 11th position with 6 points from the equal number of matches. East Bengal is the only side to swallow only a single goal in eight matches of this year’s I-League yet.

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