East Bengal beats SBT

By Our Sports Reporter

KOLKATA, JAN. 27. Kingfisher East Bengal came back to winning ways defeating State Bank of Travancore (SBT) 3-1 in a third round of the National Football League match here at the Ravindra Sarovar Stadium on Saturday. The win gave the home side full three points to take its tally to six points from three matches, while the visitor SBT remained on two points from two draws and a loss.

SBT, playing with no foreign recruits, made a strong beginning and played a brisk game using both the flanks to repeatedly harass the East Bengal defence. T. Shabir Ali doubled as the attacking midfielder and got the strike as early in the sixth minute to surprise the home side. The goal was realised as Ali's pile-driver deflected off East Bengal stopper-back Jackson Agygpong and caught custodian Naseem Akhtar off guard.

East Bengal, playing its first match under new coach Manoranjan Bhattacharya, got into the game midway through the first session and with Ghanian Suley Musah playing as the winger got striker Dipendu Biswas to nod home the equaliser in the 27th minute. The host side kept up the tempo and had diminutive midfielder Dipankar Roy fetching the lead with a long-ranger in the 35th minute.

The second session found the host team playing with a renewed vigour. On the other hand East Bengal saw skipper Bijen Singh shooting over a goalmouth opportunity in the 54th minute. The SBT defence held strong before another Musah cross in the 72nd minute had Nigerian forward Omoloja Olalekan finishing the move with a prompt header to end the scoring for the host.

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Section  : Sport
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