Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Dika wins the stellar show for East Bengal against archrival Mohun Bagan.



             Lalrindika Ralte won the Kolkata derby for East Bengal against arch rival Mohun Bagan by 1-0 margin by scoring the solitary goal in the 72nd minute of the game.
              Neither side deserved to be a looser, the match was equally balanced, both the sides had their chances throughout the 90 minutes, it was Lalrindika who made the difference only by his individual excellence with a left footer long ranger almost form 25 yards away which went past the advancing Mohun Bagan custodian Shilton Paul into the net, silenced the 60000 odd green & maroon supporters inside the stadium & made the coronation of Armando Colaco as an East Bengal coach remarkable as well.

                 Tactically Karim Bencharifa was highly disciplined & correct, in the absence of experienced Eche he composed his defence with Pritam Kotal, Rowlison Rodriguez, Aibor Khonjee, Souvik Ghosh & used Kingshuk Debnath as a blocker in front of them,  put Sabeeth & Eric Muranda in the upfront while Odafa was operating as a withdrawal forward from a bit of behind.
               They had their chance in the very early minutes of the game while Odafa sent a pin-point pass to Eric who had the only goalkeeper to beat handed the ball into the safehands of East Bengal custodian Abhijit Mondal on the 6th minute of the game.
               East Bengal also had their first clear opportunity on the dying moments of first half while Ryoji Sueka failed to dribble past advancing Shilton after following a goal bound pass from Kevin Lobo.
                Odafa has shown his spark in the second half while he screened the ball after taking four of the opponent defenders & took a thunderous shot unfortunately which found the safe hands of Abhhijit.
                 Abhijit Mondal once again saved a magnificent powerful header by Odafa following a right wing cross sent by Pritam Kotal on exact hour mark.
                  While the match was heading towards a tactical stalemate Armando introduced James Moga in the upfront on the place of Kevin Lobo in the 65th minute of the game for putting some aerial pressure on opponent defence.
                    It was Dika who broke the deadlock in the 72nd minute of the game after following a pass from Harmonjeet Khabra, thundered a long ranger volley by left foot, which went past the opponent custodian Shilton just making him a standing viewer only & dipped inside the post. Entire East Bengal crowd erupted in joy & started to chant with the name of Dika.
                 If we analyze the match then we must have to say during 90 minutes Salt Lake stadium have witnessed an uneven battle of few young talents in Mohun Bagan defence who experienced their first ever derby remained instrumental against heavily experienced East Bengal so it has to be told that Mohun Bagan might have lost the derby but those promising young talents have made a mark & surely going to advent as superstar in upcoming days.
                 With this victory East Bengal remains unbeaten since last 6 matches against their archrivals moreover has won 4 out of their clashes including the violence marred abandoned derby in which East Bengal was declared winner by AIFF later.
                 This victory guided East Bengal on 10 points after 7th round while Mohun Bagan remains in 10 after 9th round.

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