Bhubaneswar: Laldanmawia Ralte and Jobby Justin scored on either halves as Kolkata giants East Bengal scrapped past a fighting Indian Arrows 2-1 in an I-League encounter here at the Kalinga Stadium, Tuesday.
With this win the Red and Golds remain at fifth with 19 points from 10 matches while Arrows lie below at ninth position with 10 points from 11 games. Khumathem Ninthoinganba Meetei scored the only goal for the home team from a penalty.
The game was full of drama as tempers flared on the pitch, two reds were shown besides the referee being booed away for lots of reasons from the handful of East Bengal supporters who came all the way from Kolkata to support their team.
The Kolkata side played attacking brand of football from the start while Arrows, as usual, played defensive. The first real chance of the match fell to Arrows’ Vikram Pratap Singh in the 24th minute when his right-footed goal-bound shot was fisted away by East Bengal goalie Rakshir Dagar.
However, the Alejandro Menendez-coached side didn’t had to wait for long as they took the lead three minutes later through Laldanmawia. Latching onto a Jamie Santos Colado pass from the left, Laldanmawia was at the right position to tap in into the side corner of the net.
The score could have been 3-0 at the half time for East Bengal had luck been on their side. First, Lalrindika Ralte failed to convert from the spot after Laldanmawia was brought down in the box by Jitendra Singh, secondly debutant Antonio Dovale’s beautiful left-footed angular shot missed the post by a whisker.
The second half was more interesting a series of events happened in the last 45 minutes. The Kolkata side became a bit complacent after the break with Arrows creating a flurry of attacks but Rakshit was rock solid under the bar to avert any danger.
East Bengal were down to ten men when Lalram Chullova unnecessarily received marching orders in the 58th minute for head-butting Rahul Kannoly. However, despite down to 10 men, East Bengal doubled their lead in the 64th minute through an unmarked Jobby.
Running down the right flank substitute Samad Ali Mallick saw his shot saved by Arrows goalie Prabhuskaran Gill before an unmarked Jobby slotted it home on the rebound to record his seventh goal of the league.
Arrows pulled one back through Meetei in the 90th minute but that was after they were down to ten, when Aniket Jadav was red carded just few minutes earlier.