East Bengal beat spirited HAL Bangalore in I-League
January 22nd, 2012 - 3:06 am ICT by IANSKolkata, Jan 21 (IANS) East Bengal overcame a spirited challenge from HAL Bangalore to defeat them 2-0 in the 16th Round of I-League football encounter at the Salt Lake Stadium Saturday.
Both teams started on an aggressive note. But the hosts found it increasingly difficult to get past the visitors’ defence in the first half.
It was HAL who stole the show in the first half and came very close to taking an early lead. In 20th minute, R.C. Prakash struck a brilliant volley but alert East Bengal goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh punched the ball away to safety.
Both teams kept attacking each other but much to the disappointment of the crowd the first half remained goalless.
Changing over, East Bengal came out looking the more aggressive of the two. Their persistence finally gave them lead, when on a perfect cross from Sanju Pradhan, Saumik Dey scored the first goal in 65th minute for the Red and Gold brigade.
Spurred on by the first goal East Bengal started looking more dangerous, and they finally got their second in the 89th minute when Penn Orgi found the back of the net thanks to an unselfish pass from Brazilian, Edmilson Marques who had earlier replaced Tolgay Ozbey upfront in 76th minute.
With this win East Bengal now have 33 points from 16 matches while HAL stays at 3 points from 16 outings.
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Tags: bangalore, crowd, disappointment, east bengal, encounter, goalkeeper, gold brigade, gurpreet singh, hosts, jan 21, kolkata, league football, orgi, persistence, prakash, salt lake, spirited challenge, upfront, volley, who stole the show