I-League: East Bengal powers into pole position after beating TRAU FC

The win helped red-and-gold brigade amass eight points and reach the top of the current standings after four rounds of action.

Published : Dec 14, 2019 20:45 IST

Riding on the confidence of its 4-1 ‘away’ win against NEROCA FC in the previous outing, East Bengal began strongly facing the other team from Imphal at home.

Marti Crespi scored the winner a minute from time to help East Bengal better visitor TRAU FC 2-1 in an I-League fixture at the Kalyani Stadium on Saturday. East Bengal went ahead early in the first half off Marcos de la Espada but the lead was neutralised by TRAU’s Deepak Devrani, who found the net in the injury-time of the opening half.

The win helped red-and-gold brigade amass eight points and reach the top of the current standings after four rounds of action. Riding on the confidence of its 4-1 ‘away’ win against NEROCA FC in the previous outing, East Bengal began strongly facing the other team from Imphal at home. The host missed the services of its suspended Spanish attacker, Jaime Santos, and was replaced by Ronaldo Oliveira.

Catch all the highlights from the match here

Samad Ali Mallick made the first try for East Bengal in the eighth minute but his attempt, taken from top of the box, went off the cross-piece, setting in motion the host’s resolve to find the lead. Samad Ali turned the provider ten minutes later when he set a nice floater in the TRAU box for Espada to nod home. East Bengal failed to hold on to the lead for long as the TRAU defender Deepak Devrani moved up from his position at the back to secure the equaliser in the first minute of the injury-time in the opening half.

Looking for its first win at home, East Bengal struggled against a determined defending by TRAU after the break. It finally found the decisive goal in the 89th minute when Marti Crespi walked up from his position in the central defence to provide the desired finish.

The result: East Bengal 2 (Marcos de la Espada 17', Marti Crespi 89') bt TRAU FC 1 (Deepak Devrani 45+1')