Odafa Okolie left the pitch after sustaining an injury. Image Source: Xtra Time[/caption]Barasat: East Bengal's title hopes sink after a goalless stalemate with Sporting Clube de Goa in Barasat today. East Bengal well in the match but lost the plot as the match progressed. Sporting's Odafa featured in the starting XI but limped off after sustaining an injury. Both teams played with 10-men at the later part of the match with Sporting's Mehrajuddin getting a second yellow card within two minutes (57', 59') and Narayan Das receiving the same for some silly errors (68', 86').
There were as many as seven changes in the Kolkatan side's first 11 after the exit of head coach Biswajit Bhattacharya as Sanjay Majhi stands in as the action coach while Trevor Morgan has been appointed for his second stint with the team. Lalrindika Ralte made an early comeback from injury while Bernard Mendy missed out this game due to a thigh strain.
There was hardly any goal-mouth action in the first session of play other than a few chances that fell to East Bengal while the Goans were only able to launch occasional attacks, coming close on one occasion just before the break.
The Red and Gold forward line comprising of the duo of Ranti Martins and Do-dong-Hyun tried put some pressure in the defense of Sporting. Sporting 's Loveday stood like a wall in front of the duo. On the other hand, Bello Rasaq lead East Bengal defense breath easy after Odafa's exit.
Ranti Martins looked out of sorts in the first half but he later tried to put in some effort upfront. Ranti was missing ball supply from the flanks and midfield. This forced interim coach Sanjay Majhi to bring in Larindika Ralte in the 55th minute for the first time this season and Dika was almost there to score the first goal but missed the target by inches.
Tempers flarred as Wadoo got a double booking in a matter of minutes. The Kashmiri was sent off for a stamp on Ralte moments after he was booked for discent.
Meanwhile, Arindam continued to be the thorn for the Kolkatan outfit as he parried off the rebound from Ranti for team-mate Subashish Bose to clear off after Dong-Hyun had whirled a curler in the 65th minute.
Late attempts by substitue Sehnaj Singh and CS Sabeeth along with Dong-Hyun weren't enough to get a winner as East Bengal remain third with 25 points from 15 matches, four points behind league leaders Bengaluru FC and hence out of the title race with only one matchday left. Sporting Clube de Goa, currently fourth in the standings, have 19 points from their 15 matches.
However, there was a huge banner which was left displayed as the fan group walked out. The banner read, "13 YEARS GONE. DO YOU UNDERSTAND? NO, YOU DON'T".
0 comments:
Post a Comment