Date:28/11/2002 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2002/11/28/stories/2002112803642000.htm

Sport - Football

Fortune favours East Bengal

KOLKATA NOV. 27. Kingfisher East Bengal managed a 1-0 win against a defensive JCT Mills, Phagwara in a fourth round match of the Oil PSU VII National Football League (NFL) here at the Salt Lake Stadium on Wednesday.

Nigerian striker Mike Okoro did the honours netting the only goal of the match in the 58th minute to bail the host out of a self-induced crisis. The win enabled East Bengal to maintain its successful run so far and the team tallied nine points by winning all its three home matches.

On the other hand, JCT continued to under-perform. Coming from Goa losing against Salgaocar SC last week by the same margin as it was beaten by East Bengal, JCT remained on zero as it lost its second consecutive `away' match.

As it became glaringly evident in its last two encounters, against Tollygunge Agragami and Mahindra United, East Bengal saw its coordination problems persisting against JCT. Unable to strike the proper cohesion, the city giant, tipped as one of the title contenders with an assortment of stars, wrought a pathetic performance seeing the team over-exert to fetch a win each time in this tournament.

The midfield looks to be the team's weakest zone and coach Subhas Bhowmick's efforts to plug the shortcomings bore little fruit. Pairing Anit Ghosh with Shanmugam Venkatesh, the game-maker of the National team, as the central halves did not seem to work, as was the decision of opting for a five-man midfield.

Ghosh could hardly realise his creative role remaining more of a defender, while Venkatesh too, did not find adequate support to prosper in the provider's role. The problem spilled over to the strikers, Mike Okoro and Alvito D'Cunha, who looked tardy unable to get enough support form their colleagues in the middle.

In all, East Bengal so far has drawn a blank in tactical efficacy and has managed to survive by dint of fortune and sparks of individual brilliance.

D'Cunha remained gutsy as usual, and provided the initial thrust operating on the left, but with none of his colleagues really following the ball his back-pass inside the box went abegging in the fourth minute.

JCT saw its right-half Harvinder Singh getting a shot off the crossbar in the 19th minute to have the first session ending goalless. JCT earned the first clear chance following the change of ends but striker Hardeep Gill found his angular shot in the 49th minute a trifle too wide.

Okoro however, was more fortunate than his JCT counterpart as the East Bengal striker found his angled finish fetching the reward nine minutes after Gill had failed.