Brilliant Willis Plaza secures East Bengal's fifth consecutive victory | Image : Hero I-League[/caption]Barasat: Willis Plaza blossoms like the petals of rose as Kingfisher East Bengal beats Santosh Kashyap's Mumbai FC in a convincing way to maintain their dream run in the Hero I-League at the Barasat Stadium on Wednesday. The Caribbean forward scored a sublime brace in the first half after showing some delightful individual brilliance inside the box. The win has certainly strengthen East Bengal's position on the top of the league table.
East Bengal got an early lead in the 10th minute of the game after some slick and clean work inside the box from the Caribbean man Willis Plaza. Rahul Bheke ran his heart out to send in a cross from the right. Going over Robin, Plaza chested the ball down and after winning the duel with Pires, he befooled Sawant and Chintarao to send the ball to the farpost with his left foot.
The Red and Gold doubled their lead in the 19th minute as Ralte sent a long ball from the left and after controlling and taking Pires for a ride, Plaza slammed it home with another beautiful left footer. Similar to his first goal but the ball there came from the left and long.
Despite the fact that East Bengal took a 2-0 lead in the first half, the quality of football never been of top class in the first 45 minutes. East Bengal started the second half in a better though as they had much more control while going forward.
In the 49th minute a good counter attack was launched by East Bengal after Karan did well to test the EB defence. Wedson released Robin towards his left but Reagan Singh did well to intercept. A Mumbai FC goal was cancelled in the 57th munute as Densill Theobald was marginally offside while having the final touch.
Trevor Morgan handed a debut to the Goan man Romeo Fernandes as Wedson, who had a quiet game was substituted. Didika Ralte was shifted in a central position as Romeo ran down the flanks.
Mumbai FC played heroicly in the last half an hour and created a number of opportunities to put pressure on the home team who seemed very casual in their approach.
East Bengal had a lucky escape in the 84th minute as Steven Dias took the free-kick and Shilton headed it in as Rehenesh parried it off. The rebound was shot by Sawhney and the ball went wide. The goal was not given as the linesman believed that he was in an offside position, though the replay showed the otherwise.
The partnership of Ivan Bukenye and Gurwinder Singh has started to value to the defence as well. The understanding has now been a cusion for Trevor Morgan as Arnab Mondal is getting match-fit before the Kolkata derby.
Five outstanding wins on a trot and with 16 points off 6 games, East Bengal is going strength to strength on the race of clinching their maiden I-League title.
Hero of the Match: Willis Plaza
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