ECSTASY AND AGONY: Kingfisher East Bengal's Izumi Arata and Ashim Biswas (No. 25) celebrate after scoring a goal, while HAL's goalkeeper Gumpe Rime looks dejected. — Photo: G.P. Sampath Kumar

BANGALORE: Last match's hero turned villain for Hindustan Aeronautics Sports Club (HASC) on Thursday.

Gumpe Rime, the diminutive 31-year old HASC goaltender, let in two seemingly innocuous goals while being truly beaten by another goal as Kolkata's East Bengal registered a 3-1 victory in the ONGC National Football League at the Football Stadium.

Aggressive

HASC began on an aggressive note. Rajendra Prasad ballooned from close a defence-splitting cross from Murali from the left, which a lurking Nanda Kumar failed to tap in at the first post. But off a sudden counter, East Bengal went 1-0 up with Aushim Biswas turning home a Boniface Ambani centre while the HASC defence stood rooted in the middle.

HASC's spate of wrong passes and poor control only enabled the Kolkata giants to come into its own and forge ahead with medio Bibiano Fernandes flicking over Gumpe, an Aushim Biswas square, in the 20th minute.

On resumption HASC turned on the heat once again and four minutes later pulled one back. A move down the left saw Xavier Vijaykumar chip into the goalmouth but Covan Lawrence headed onto the path of Kuttimani whose pile driver into the far corner brooked no resistance from custodian Ranjit Dastidar (1-2).

The goal not only buoyed the HASC players but also the crowd. Soon the match commissioner Michael Andrews (Kerala) came into play when he pointed out to referee K. Shankar (TN) that Aushim who had turned up in jersey No. 25 in the first half was playing with a 14 number shirt in the second.

Yellow card

Aushim was promptly shown the `yellow' and asked to change into his original jersey. But the flamboyant striker, who was uncertain to play due to fever, eventually walked away with the `man of the match' award of Rs. 5,000, at the end of the match.

Substitute Izumi Arata, a Japanese, sealed the issue for East Bengal in the 88th minute when he latched onto a Chandan Das lob. Gumpe Rime instead of advancing and narrowing the angle moved the wrong way and Izumi slotted home from close.

Prashanth Jaggi of HASC was also booked with a `yellow' earlier by referee Shankar.

HASC now has just one point from two matches having drawn with Mohun Bagan earlier while East Bengal after a defeat at the hands of Air India logged on its first set of full points.

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