I-League: East Bengal Hold Mahindra To A 1-1 Draw.

Mahindra United were the better team on the night and were slightly unfortunate not to take all three points. They took the lead after 13 minutes in the second half through substitute Paresh Sivalkar who scored with his second touch of the game. But East Bengal equalized through Sunil Chettri three minutes later. It was an open game for the rest of the match but neither team could take their chances and grab a win.  

Subrata Pal and Surkumar Singh were back in the team for East Bengal which allowed Nabi to push up in midfield. Young Malswamkima was preferred to Jayanta Sen in center of midfield while Sanju Pradhan started once again as Renedy Singh couldn’t recover from illness on time but the biggest team news was the inclusion of Yakubu in the starting lineup even though he trained only once in the week.  

On the other hand Mahindra had to leave out their captain Ajayan from the match squad because he had fallen ill in the morning. 23 year old Sunil Kumar started at right back while Susanth Matthew started on the right side of midfield as national team player Steven Dias was left on the bench.  

But losing their captain didn’t affect Mahindra’s performance as they started brightly with the combination of Chidi and young Sushil Kumar causing problems for the East Bengal defense. Chidi nearly gave them the lead after 11 minutes but his shot was well saved by Subrata Pal. From the resulting corner Pradeep’s header was just wide off the target.

Pradeep who was operating on the left hand side of midfield was making clever runs from midfield which were unattended by a sleepy East Bengal midfield. Pradeep was well setup in the box by Sushil Kumar but his shot agonizingly missed the goal.

The next to go close for Mahindra was Sushil Kumar. His header from a Pradeep freekick was destined for the back of the net but a brilliant reflex save by Subrata Pal denied him.  

The men from Mumbai had bags of possession and it was only looking like a matter of time before they would score. Stanley had to change something so he brought on Jayanta Sen in place of the unimpressive Mehraj. That change did bring a bit more solidity in East Bengal’s midfield but they couldn’t really get a move going as it ended 0-0 at half time despite Mahindra dominating the match.  

East Bengal had to start the second half well and they certainly did so as their midfield were playing much better. East Bengal were also starting to look dangerous up front and seven minutes into the half they got their first real chance when Yakubu setup Sunil Chettri who tried to chip the ball over the keeper’s head from outside the box but his shot had hit the bar.

Derek Periera realized that the home team was getting back into the game so he brought on Dias and Paresh Shivalkar in place of Pierre and Pradeep respectively and the substitution producen an instant result. Nirmal Chettri was dispossessed by Chidi on the right hand side and after some good trickery he played the ball across the six yard area. Paresh Shilvalkar who had just come on found himself unmarked on the far post slotted the ball in the back of the net to give Mahindra the lead.  

But the lead didn’t last long as East Bengal equalized three minutes later. Nabi had found Yakubu inside the box and the Nigerian’s pass was slotted in with a first time left footed shot by Sunil Chettri.

Minutes later Shivalkar had caught Sunil Chettri on the face with a high boot. The injury looked serious for a while but Sunil soon recovered and returned to the action. When play resumed Mahindra had a golden opportunity to score the winner when Dias’s pass was not dealt with by Surkumar which gave Sushil Kumar the chance to score his fourth I-League goal of the season but the youngster’s shot hit the post.

Dias was now the dangerman for Mahindra as his crosses were causing confusion in the East Bengal back four. Chidi and Sushil had one half chance each but they couldn’t take them.

Despite drawing level immediately Mahindra were looking the most likely team to get the winner as East Bengal did all the running. They also had very little option in the bench which consisted of young players and out of form players like Parveen Kumar and Dipankar Roy giving Stanley very few options to change the game.

However East Bengal did finish the game stronger as they had two chances to win the game. First Nabi couldn’t get a clean shot through from close range and then Yakubu’s header was just over the bar.The chances for a winner had gone begging for both sides as the game ended all square. 

This result moves East Bengal to fifth spot with nine points from seven games while Mahindra stay on eighth spot with seven points from as many games.    

Final Score: 1-1  

Scorers: Paresh Shivalkar 58' (Mahindra United), Sunil Chettri 61' (East Bengal)  

Amoy Ghoshal.