SC East Bengal mounted a spectacular fight back to hold former champion Chennaiyin FC to a 2-2 draw in an ISL-8 fixture at the Tilak Maidan Stadium on Wednesday.
Trailing by two goals in the first half, East Bengal made a remarkable return after the break where it erased the deficit with two nice goals to steal a point from Chennaiyin FC.
Fantastic start
Chennaiyin FC made a fantastic start by opening right in the second minute. Jerry Lalrinzuala surprised the East Bengal defence with his speed and moved up the left flank to essay fine cross. Suhail Pasha went for the floater but failed to connect it properly. But the Chennaiyin attacker’s effort did not go in vain as the ball hit East Bengal defender Hira Mondal’s legs and found the back of the net.
Chennaiyin doubled lead in the 15th minute as the East Bengal defender Mondal committed another mistake by sending a miss-pass that was collected by the by Ninthoi Meetei.
The Chennaiyin winger accepted the gift and quickly moved into the East Bengal box and finished with a powerful drive that gave the East Bengal goalkeeper Arindam Bhattacharya no chance to save.
East Bengal clawed back into the action in the final 15 minutes of the opening half. Darren Sidoel showed his class with a stunning free-kick in the 61st minute that helped East Bengal narrow the gap. East Bengal kept pressing for more and found the equaliser in the added time off a fine header from substitute Terina Hnmate.
The result: East Bengal 2 (Sidoel 61, Hnmate 90+2) drew with Chennaiyin FC 2 (Hira Mondal 2-og, Ninthoi 15).
Thursday’s match: MC FC vs ATK MB, 7.30 p.m.
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