East Bengal clinches title

By Our Sports Reporter

CALCUTTA, JULY 10. Kingfisher East Bengal scaled its diffidence in the attack to be ultimately rescued by a unlikely finisher in Anit Ghosh, who helped the team lift the McDowell Cup for the third time beating Mohun Bagan 1-0 in the final here at the Salt Lake Stadium on Monday.

With conviction and discipline typifying its performance in the tournament, East Bengal's victory in the final was the fair culmination of the team's hard work. Today's win also had the red-and-gold brigade avenge its 1996 final defeat against Mohun Bagan, and give it a triumphant start to the season. The winner, which got richer by Rs. 1,50,000, deserved more kudos for keeping its slate clean by not conceding a goal in the meet. Mohun Bagan received Rs. 75,000.

Ghosh, who was later adjudged the man-of-the-final, took most of the load for his team and proved the suitable apprentice for his coach Syed Nayeemuddin, who had reposed lot of faith on the player promoting him as a defensive midfielder so far in this season. His role became crucial as the two forwards - Dipendu Biswas and Srikanta Dutta - failed to avail the opportunities that kept coming up with an alarming regularity.

On the other hand, Mohun Bagan could hardly put any flair in its performance and dished out a mediocre show that spoke low about the team's ability to defend and create the right moves. The Mohun Bagan midfield remained subdued and succeeded only in spinning unimaginative moves that failed to activate its Brazilian offence in Jose Barreto and Joao Santos.

Both Dulal Biswas and Devjit Ghosh, who had shared the mantle of initiating moves from the middle, flopped in their distributions. The flank attack too remained a quite sloth and gave the opposition defence all the time and space to keep the Mohun Bagan attack under a tight leash.

Mohun Bagan saw its hopes suffering more blows when its limited share of chances went abegging as Barreto, once in the first session, and the Bangalore recruit R.C. Prakash - playing as the left-half - twice in the second half missed the target from close. Despite being heavily marked, Barreto broke free occasionally displaying exceptional ball control but his good work remained unutilised. This resulted mostly because his compatriot, Santos, could not match the abilities of the former. He found the East Bengal sweeper Jackson Agygpong a big hurdle.

Anit Ghosh did exceptionally well with his interceptions and quick release upfront that often caught the opposition defence napping. But what seemed to bother the winner all through the match was its forwardline that muffed repeated opportunities.

Both Dipendu Biswas and Srikanta Dutta, who was playing in the absence of injured Ukrainian striker Andrei Malchevsky, could at best be wayward or feeble in their attempts at the goal. Dipendu was spectacular with his ball control foxing the opposition defence on more occasion than once, but tentative finishing made all this appear an exercise in futility.

It finally required the confidence and accuracy of Anit Ghosh to separate the two teams. Ghosh took the scoring task himself intercepting a defensive clearance from Bagan right-back, Amitava Chandra, and finished with a thundering right-footer couple of yards from the box, in the 45th minute of the match.

Dipak Mandal, the East Bengal stopper-back, whose commitment and hard-work definitely reflected in his team triumphing without once seeing the citadel fall, was named the man-of-the- tournament.

East Bengal, which won the McDowell Cup beating Mohun Bagan in the final at Calcutta on Monday.

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