East Bengal ransacked ONGC by a clear 5-0 margin & retain their position in the top.

         East Bengal ransacked ONGC by a clear 5-0 margin at Salt Lake stadium Kolkata today in the seventh round clash of I-League, retain themselves top of the I-League ladder. Chiddi opened the lockgate for the hosts at 26^th minute, Penn (51’), Mannandep(66’), Lalrindika (78’) & Robin Singh (83’) serially put their stings upon the visitors. Chiddi’s goal is the 500^th goal for East Bengal in I-League where they took 345 matches to reach that milestone & East Bengal remain unbeaten in their last 31 outings in Morgan’s tenure.

          East Bengal started with the same combination they used in their last few matches while the visitors had to make few changes in their first eleven due to the injury of key players, Subrata Bhattacharya(junior) introduced Rajib Bodo in the up front.

          Expectations were mounting in this match due to the performance of ONGC since last two matches, they held Mohun Bagan in their home & beaten mighty Dempo by a comprehensive 3-1 margin in their last two home matches. Whether the overall record is concern East Bengal failed to overcome the barrier of ONGC since their last seven meetings, which made the situation wary for Morgan.

         In the beginning few minutes of the first half it looked like somewhere that ONGC is here to prove their giant killer image, whether the Red & Gold Brigade started their campaign in a bit of cautious mood while the visitors were also doing the counters well throughout the entire first half.

         East Bengal had to wait till 26^th minute to get their first goal while Chiddi scored the first following a header from Isfaq from the right side of the box, eventually that becomes the 500^th goal for East Bengal in I-League. The visitors defended well during the rest of the time of the first half, trailing only 0-1 margin.

          East Bengal started second half with an innovative fashion, due to that they got their second in the 51^st minute of the game courtesy Penn Orji following a header from Chiddi.

        Just after that incident the central defender of ONGC, Sandeep Sangha got a marching order firstly for ruthlessly tackling Mannadeep & secondly for involving a brawl with referee, it opened the floodgate for the hosts.

           Mannandeep scored the third for the homeside in the 66^th minute of the game. Morgan took few changes during the match, the substitutes became quite handy & put their names in the scoresheet also.

       Substituted Lalrindika scored the fourth for East Bengal in the 78^th minute, another substitute Robin Singh also found the net in the death made the scoreline 5-0 in their fore.

       Currently East Begnal tops the table with 17 points from 7 matches while the ONGC is in the relegation zone with only 5 points from 7 matches.

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