Kingfisher East Bengal 4 (Penn Orji -- 27th; Tolgay Ozbey -- 30th & 76th; Robert Lalthlamuana -- 57th)
Beat
Pailan Arrows 1 (Prathamesh Maulingkar -- 60th)
KOLKATA: Pailan Arrows proved out to be no match for resurgent Kingfisher East Bengal, as the hosts defeated Arrows by 4-1 in the 15th round I-League clash, played at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, on Monday (January 17). After Pen Orji had opened the scoring for East Bengal in the 27thminute, Tolgay Ozbey scored a brace in 30th & 76th minute respectively. Robert Lalthlamuana scored East Bengal’s fourth goal in the 57th minute. The consolation goal for Pailan was scored by stopper-back Prathamesh Maulingkar in 60th minute. Australian Tolgay turned out to be the difference between the two teams, as he remained a constant threat upfront along with Penn Orji. East Bengal, who began on an aggressive note put constant pressure on the Pailan defence. And it yielded results soon. Pailan conceded the first goal in 27th minute, when Orji headed in a rebound after rival goalkeeper Naveen Kumar had denied Sanju Pradhan from close. Three minutes later, Penn passed the ball to Tolgay, who blasted in as powerful left- footer to double the score. The scoreline stayed two-nil in favour of the Red-and-gold at the interval. Changing over, East Bengal kept up the pressure. The strategy proved successful again in the 57th minute when Penn cleverly passed the ball to Robert Lalthlamuana, who came in out of nowhere to score the third goal. Tolgay again found the back of the Pailan’s empty net to score a brace in 76th minute. Pailan did pull one back in the 60th minute when Prathamesh Maulingkar headed in a Prabir Das corner. The 10th round encounter between the two teams had ended in a goalless draw. With this win East Bengal moved to 30 points from 15 matches while Pailan stay on 7 points from 14 matches. Tolgay Ozbey was adjudged the Man of the Match.
Dempo aim for revenge
PUNE: Armando Colaco’s Dempo Sports Club will definitely not take things easy when they meet Air India in the Round XV match of the I-League at the Balewadi Sports Complex on Wednesday (January 18).
After being clear leaders in the early part of the season for seven rounds, Dempo crashed to three defeats in a row and it was Air India’s 2-0 away win in Fatorda that had shown to all the Goan team’s defence was vulnerable.
Since then, Dempo has remained tentative and have lost only one of the next four matches. At present, they stay at the top with 30 points from 14 matches, three points clear of Kolkata teams, East Bengal and Mohun Bagan. Their rivals Air India are on 20 points from 14 matches.
In the last match against Chirag United Kerala, Dempo had plenty of misses but early strikes from Clifford Miranda and Ranti Martins were enough for the league leaders to stay ahead of the chasing pack.
However, Air India would not be such an easy meat at home. On Saturday, Air India’s defence spearheaded by Collin Abranches, Lamine Tamba and Muhammed Shafi frustrated Shillong Lajong no end in a goalless draw.
Dempo will have to go all guns firing as Kali Alaudeen, who captained Air India in the last match, can shift roles effortlessly and is good at either positions, in the midfield or defence. Striker Sandesh Gadkari was off-colour and had to be substituted in the second half, but Sandeep Sangha worked nicely upfront with Alaudeen keeping him busy all the time.
In the last five encounters, Air India has won two, lost two and drawn one — their last win coming just before Christmas against Pailan Arrows. Air India hasn’t done badly given that much wasn’t expected from the Mumbai outfit, who was forced to adopt Pune as home for this season.
The kick-off is slated for 2.30pm.
Salgaocar want to break into top-five
MARGAO: Salgaocar Sports Club stay aware they can jump to the top-five spot for the first time should they manage to get past struggling HAL at the Nehru Stadium, Fatorda, on Wednesday (January 18). Salgaocar are placed seventh at the moment with 22 points and a win against the bottom-placed squad will help them jump two spots and closer to a place they believe they belong; whereas HAL stay at the borrom of the League with 3 goals from 14 matches.
“We have to continue making progress. We have done well in the last five games but three points against HAL are an absolute must now,” said Salgaocar coach Karim Bencherifa.
Salgaocar had struggled to post a solitary goal win against HAL in the first leg at Bangalore and Bencherifa feels they team would have to be at their best to replicate the result at Fatorda.
“The slow start in the beginning taught us some lessons and one lesson which we learnt was that you don’t win if you don’t work really, really, hard. Whether it’s a top team or one at the bottom, there cannot be an exception. We have to really work hard for full points,” said Bencherifa.
The coach, however, was happy that his team has enjoyed a good run of form in the last five matches, that too without some of their key players. “We have managed to achieve some level of consistency and if you see the records, we have missed quite a few players. That’s an encouraging sign,” said the coach.
Unless there is a dramatic change in fortunes in the next couple of matches, HAL’s relegation becomes almost inevitable. The Bangalore side has not won a single game in the competition -- only Pailan Arrows has such a dubious record -- and are sitting at the bottom of the pool with three points in their kitty.
The kick-off is at 3.30pm.