East Bengal FC displayed solid nerves and registered a fantastic 1-0 win over Kerala Blasters FC in this crunch encounter. The Red and Gold Brigade’s skipper Cleiton Silva once again scored the goal and his goal tally reached double digits, yesterday.
Stephen Constantine’s men were outstanding from the word go and created several chances in this Indian Super League (ISL) 2022-23 game. At the beginning of the game, all the players paid respect to the late Parimal Dey, who passed away on 1st February 2023. Everybody stood in silence for a minute at the V.Y.B.K.
The defenders of East Bengal FC were outstanding yesterday and they display fine footballing prowess and edged past their opponents. However, an ugly incident occurred around the 15th minute when Ankit Mukherjee was substituted and Mohammad Rakip was brought into the game.
Mukherjee threw the East Bengal jersey on to the ground in frustration as he was unhappy after being subbed off. In the 27th minute, Cleiton Silva’s powerful kick went sailing above the crossbar.
East Bengal FC had another chance in the 32nd minute. Winger V.P. Suhair fashioned a good cross from the right wing and it fell just short of Jake Jervis, who was making his debut for the Red and Gold Brigade.
At the end of the first half, the score-line read 0-0 and none of the teams could be separated.
East Bengal FC custodian Kamaljit Singh did a fantastic job throughout the day and registered his first clean sheet in ISL 2022-23. His brilliance between the sticks earned the Torchbearers, three crucial points.
In the 53rd minute, Rahul KP cut back and passed it to Apostolos Giannou but his shot was saved by Kamaljit Singh.
In the 75th minute, Kerala Blasters FC Head Coach Ivan Vukomanovich decided to mix the deck and bring in Danish Farooq, who was recently brought in from Bengaluru FC. It was the debut game of the central midfielder in the yellow-clad jersey.
Cleiton Silva broke the deadlock between the two sides in the 77th minute. Naorem Roshan Singh did extremely well to dribble past a few defenders with his superb pace in the left flank and took a shot. But his shot was deflected by a Kerala Blasters FC player and went straight near the 36-year-old Brazilian.
And the Brazilian netted a goal during his birthday to etch his name as one of the greatest to have donned the jersey for East Bengal FC. It was a special night for the home team as they registered their 2nd win on home soil in the ISL.
Squads
East Bengal FC
Kamaljit Singh, Suvam Sen, Pritam Kumar Singh, Mohammad Rakip, Sarthak Golui, Athul Unnikrishnan, Jerry Lalrinzuala, Iván González, Charalambos Kyriakou, Lalchungnunga, Mobashir Rahman, Souvik Chakrabarti, Alex Lima, Amarjit Singh Kiyam, Aniket Jadhav, Naorem Mahesh Singh, VP Suhair, Sumit Passi, Cleiton Silva, Jake Jervis
Kerala Blasters FC
Prabhsukhan Singh Gill, Karanjit Singh, Muheet Shabir, Sachin Suresh, Victor Mongil, Marko Leskovic, Hormipam Ruivah, Sandeep Singh, Bijoy Varghese, Nishu Kumar, Jessel Carneiro, Harmanjot Khabra, Jeakson Singh, Ivan Kaliuzhnyi, Lalthathanga Khawlhring, Ayush Adhikari, Saurav, Adrian Luna, Sahal Abdul Samad, Bryce Brian Miranda, Danish Farooq, Vibin Mohanan, Nihal Sudeesh, Givson Singh, Dimitrios Diamantakos, Rahul K.P, Apostolos Giannou, Bidyashagar Singh, Sreekuttan
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