KALYANI: East Bengal made a winning start of their 2016/17 Calcutta Premier Division – A campaign as they beat Bhawanipore FC 2-1 at Kalyani Stadium on Thursday.
The Red and Golds pulled ahead through Jiten Murmu only for Orok Orok Essien to restore the parity for Bhawanipore. However, a second-half strike from skipper Lalrindika Ralte settled the closely contested affair in East Bengal’s favour.
The game began with both sides battling out hard in the opening quarter. While East Bengal had some good opportunities to take the lead with chances falling for Avinash Ruidas and Jiten but the Bhawanipore defense led by Nigerian Richard Somtochukru made sure it was not going to be easy for the East Bengal attackers.
Having gone close on a few occasions early on, East Bengal drew the first blood in the 21st minute. A right sided cross floated in by Do Dong found Jiten inside the box who made no mistake in slotting the ball home with a right footed shot.
At the other end, Bhawanipore pushed up aggressively in search of the equaliser and on a breakaway move Orok Orok beat East Bengal’s English defender Calum Angus and slot one past Luis Barreto to make the scores 1-1 in the 32nd minute.
Thereafter, both teams had a few chances in the remainder but could not convert as the scoreline remained unchanged going into the breather.
East Bengal began the second-half strongly and attacked from the word go. The constant attack by East Bengal bore fruit within just ten minutes into the session as the Red Golds regained their one-goal advantage in the 54th minute. Avinash sent in a delightful cross for Do Dong from the left side, however the striker’s effort was blocked by Bhawanipore keeper Bubai Singha but Lalrindika was at the right place at the right time and he deposited the rebound into the back of the net.
Meanwhile, Bhawanipore had a couple of good opportunities but they were unlucky not to score the equaliser as Orok Orok and Manish Bhargav missed some absolute sitters. Bhawanipore had replaced Manish with striker Francis Xavier to get something out of the game but nothing turned out to be fruitful. East Bengal also handed club debut to Nikhil Poojary who replaced Jiten in the 78th minute.
East Bengal next face Peerless SC on August 7 at Kalyani , whereas Bhawanipore take on Mohammedan Sporting Club on August 13.
East Bengal XI- Luis Barreto (GK), Rahul Bheke, Calum Angus, Gurwinder Singh, Narayan Das, Avinash Ruidas, Mehtab Hossain, Mohammed Rafique, Lalrindika Ralte (c) (Bikash Jairu – 65th), Dong Hyun Do, Jiten Murmu (Nikhil Poojary – 78th).
Bhawanipore FC XI- Bubai Singha (GK), Jony Routh (Monoranjan Singh – 71st), Noushad Bapu, Richard Somtochukru, Satish Singh, Tirthankar Sarkar, Jagannath Sana, Karan Thapa, Manish Bhargav (Francis Xavier – 60th), Shylo Malsawmtlunga (c) (Bijendra Rai – 80th), Orok Orok Essien.
Photo By Santanu Biswas.