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After the 1-1 draw, East Bengal is fourth, while Churchill Brothers is third on the I-League points table. Check the full points table here:
That was all from this match. The I-League action now shifts to Calicut where Gokulam Kerala is playing Punjab. Meanwhile, the ISL playoffs also begin tonight, with Chennaiyin hosting Goa in the first leg of the first playoff. You can follow that live here: LIVE: Chennaiyin vs Goa
Full time: East Bengal 1-1 Churchill Brothers: Jaime Santos Colado scores a penalty in the final minute of the game to grab the late equaliser for East Bengal. Churchill Brothers was leading, thanks to Willis Plaza but let EB catch up in the final minute of the game.
90+5' - GOAL! Colado takes the penalty and scores! His first-time effort is blocked by Kithan but he scores on the rebound. East Bengal 1-1 Churchill Brothers.
90+4' - Penalty to East Bengal! Kromah is brought down by Meitei in the box. Can EB find the net and grab an equaliser at death? It's game on!
90+2' - Churchill Brothers makes its third and final change: Ceesay is replaced by Lamgoulen Gou Hangshing.
90' - Five minutes of added time has been introduced. Churchill Brothers will look to sit back and bide time.
88' - Vaz gets a yellow card for his foul. Meanwhile, Boithang Haokip replaces Brandon for East Bengal in its final change of the match.
85' - What a miss! Kromah -- this time well onside -- scores awfully wide with only the goalkeeper to beat. Disappointing from Kromah!
83' - Second change for CB: Pedro goes off and on comes Khalif Alhassan. The visiting Churchill Brothers team just has to hold on for about ten minutes to secure full points.
80' - Ceesay triggers the attack for Churchill Brothers. He finds support from Plaza from the left, but Plaza takes his time before sending a cross for Pedro. The effort, though, is intercepted by the EB defence.
77' - Corner for EB, Mera takes it. The ball ricochets off the post twice -- first from Mehtab's header and later from Churchill Brothers defender Gomes' header. Later, the loose ball was sent towards the far post by Espada, but he kept his shot wide. Lots of chaos!
74' - Meitei goes for a shot from a distance but misses the mark! He has been lively on the field since his introduction off the bench.
70' - Goal disallowed! Kromah's tap-in from a Victor free-kick is cancelled out as the linesman's flag goes up. The replay shows Kromah was clearly offside when the ball was played for him. Embarrassing for Kromah because he had already jumped over the commercial boards, bursting into celebration.
67' - First substitution for Churchill Brothers: Meitei in, Martins out. Meitei makes an early contribution, blocking Kromah's tap-in at the near post following a throw-in from Victor.
65' - Once again, Mera sets up Kromah in the box, but Kromah sends it over. 25 minutes of regulation time pending in this match.
64' - On the counter, Espada tries to fire some action. He combines with Kromah, before Kromah teams up Mera. Mera tries to chip the ball into the box for Kromah, but it is cleared out.
58' - Second change for EB: Rohlupuia out, Ansumana Kromah in. Kromah enters the field to an applause from the East Bengal fans! Can he make a difference?
56' - Poor decision-making from Samad! After a beautiful back-heel from Colado, Samad gets the ball and runs into the box. Instead of shooting, he cuts it back and loses possession. Mera started the move, feeding Colado on the right with the ball.
54' - What a miss! One on one with goalkeeper Kithan, Colado fails to find the net! Mera did ever so well to set him up on the counter but Colado couldn't finish it off.
48' - First change of the match: Gurjinder Singh has replaced Asheer Akhtar for East Bengal.
48' - Samad plays a cross from the right flank for Espada in the box but the latter cannot connect to it. Espada, though, lifts his leg way too high and hurts Primus in the process, which annoys the referee.
46' - The second half begins. If you have just joined us, it is East Bengal that is trailing by a goal.
Time for some half-time listening: In the Indian Super League (ISL), the playoffs begin today. As Chennaiyin FC hosts FC Goa, listen to our preview of the match on our podcast, 'The Full Time Show'.
Half time: East Bengal 0-1 Churchill Brothers: Willis Plaza's 10th-minute strike keeps Churchill Brothers in the lead at the break against East Bengal at the Salt Lake Stadium.
45' - Two minutes have been added on here. Can East Bengal find the equaliser?
43' - Double miss for Lalkhawpuimawia! Plaza chests down the ball into the path of Lalkhawpuimawia, who shoots straight at the goalkeeper from close range. After the goalkeeper blocked the shot, the ball falls back to Lalkhawpuimawia, whose header goes over the net!
35' - Side-netting! East Bengal finally gets close to the target only to find the side-netting. Entering from the right, Colado pulled off a back-heel for Mera to set him up, but Mera couldn't send the ball into the goal.
30' - Half-hour mark is here and it is still Churchill Brothers that is leading, thanks to Plaza. Just a minute earlier, Plaza had the chance to make it a two-goal lead but he couldn't connect with a cross.
27' - Adolfo Pedro, from the 18-yard-box, shoots over! He comes in rushing from the left wing before exchanging passes with his teammates at the edge of the box.
23' - Ponif Vaz with a nasty foul on Espada to bring him down. Vaz luckily escapes any booking. East Bengal is awarded a free-kick; Mera aims for Colado, whose header lands straight into the Churchill Brothers custodian Kithan.
17' - SAVE! James Kithan pulls off a great save. He collects Jaime Santos' tap-in following a cross from Mera to keep Churchill's lead alive. Brandon, from the center, had started the move.
13' - Mera, from the right, sends a good ball for Espada in the box but Espada shoots it wide!
11' - CHANCE! Brandon VL pokes out his foot to send the ball towards goal, following a set-up from Marcos Espada. The attempt misses the net by a whisker!
10' - GOAL! Willis Plaza scores; East Bengal 0-1 Churchill Brothers. Getting to the end of a long ball played in the box by Dawda Ceesay, Plaza gets the better of four defenders to find the net.
9' - On the counter, Juan Mera attacks from the right wing. He makes his way into the penalty box but just as he whips in a cross, Robert Primus heads it away.
6' - Marcos Espada, from outside the box, strikes a long-ranger but he sends it over the bar. This comes after the East Bengal midfielders passed the ball well from the center, after the first five minutes of scrappy football.
1' - Kick-off! East Bengal vs Churchill Brothers is underway at the iconic Salt Lake Stadium.
- Just under 15 minutes left for kick-off. East Bengal is sixth on the points table with 18 points, while Churchill Brothers is third with 19 points. In the first I-League match today, Real Kashmir played out a 2-2 draw with Aizawl. RKFC now has 19 points and is a spot below Churchill at fourth. Aizawl, with the draw, is eighth with 16 points.
Match preview:
East Bengal will return to the iconic Yuba Bharati Krirangan for the first time this I-League season as it faces Churchill Brothers on Saturday.
After having succumbed to five defeats since the turn of the year, the Red and Golds got their campaign back on track with two successive wins, helping them out of relegation zone.
The Kolkata giant has an opportunity to extend its winning run but the possibility of moving up from the fourth to second place will depend on the outcome of the day’s third fixture involving Gokulam Kerala and Punjab.
“Team is getting used to new methods, but we are still on the way,” said East Bengal coach Mario Rivera.
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Weighing in on its next opponent, he added, “Churchill are always a difficult team with good foreigners. They are very competitive. Last season, we couldn’t win against them in the first leg but we will try to get it this time.”
Churchill Brothers, currently third on the table, had its winning run thwarted by the Red and Gold’s arch-rival Mohun Bagan.
However, the Red Machines’ last trip to the city of joy was one to remember, running out 4-2 winners against the league leader and till date, remain the only side to have inflicted defeat on Mohun Bagan this season.
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Churchill Brothers coach Bernardo Tavares said, “East Bengal will always be a challenge to any team, no matter what. We were on a good run and we had the chance to cut Mohun Bagan’s lead at the top and unfortunately, it wasn’t to be.”
“Defeats are always disappointing but we have learnt from the mistakes we made, and hopefully, against East Bengal, we can make it count and come home with a result.”
Match details:
East Bengal vs Churchill Brothers will be live on 1Sport. The game can also be streamed on FanCode app and website.
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