East Bengal's CFL title dreams take a major hit with crushing loss to Peerless

The Red and Gold Brigade drew their previous fixture against The Mariners in the Kolkata Derby.

East Bengal’s title ambitions took a serious hit as they succumbed to a 1-2 loss in their Calcutta Football League game against Peerless SC at the East Bengal Ground on Thursday. Goals from Ansumana Kromah and Nara Hari Shrestha were enough to down Bengal, who now see themselves three points behind rivals Mohun Bagan, with only two games to go in the CFL.

The match was a historic occasion in the Calcutta Football league, with it being the first time two World-Cuppers would face off against each other with Johnny Acosta and Anthony Wolfe both being in the lineup. East Bengal also brought back derby hero Lalrindika Ralte back into the lineup ahead of Kamalpreet Singh, while Ansumana Kromah and Syed Rahim Nabi both started against their former employers. East Bengal showed really urgency in their game right from the get-go, knowing how they’d have to win by a large margin to catch up to rivals Mohun Bagan.

The Red and Gold Brigades were moving forward with real purpose and created a chance in the 5th minute. After chaos on the box, Lalrindika Ralte hit an ambitious overhead kick which fell to Jobby Justin, whose shot from yards out was amazingly saved by Sandip Pal. But even after such a  thunderous start, the visitors shocked everyone by striking first after Kromah majestically skipped past both Mehtab Singh and Acosta, before hitting a beautiful shot which struck the post and went in. Bengal seemed rattled by that, but it didn’t hurt their motivation as they created another chance in the 17tj minute when Mahmoud Al Amna's inswinging corner was barely parried away by Pal and cleared out of danger.

Peerless suffered a disappointment when Kromah had to be substituted in the 25th minute, really dampening their attacking threat. Amna found some space to run through on goal a minute later, but his chip over the charging Pal floated just wide of the goal. Amna created another chance in the 29tj minute when his corner met a powerful header from Jobby Justin which blazed just over. Chullova got a shot at goal two minutes later, after he received Amna's shot free kick and attempted a curling attempt that skied over.

The hosts were being frustrated by Peerless towards the end of the half because of their defensive rigidity and also because of their own frustrating style of play. Bengal got a late chance in the half when Samad Ali Mallick's shot was smartly held onto by Pal. The hosts had another chance to equalize in added time when Amna powered through the right wing and passed it to Justin, whose tricky shot was saved by Pal.

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The game slowed down in the 2nd half because of the rain-soaked conditions. Bengal created a chance when Samad's cross met Justin’s header that went straight to the keeper. The visitors had effectively parked the bus trying to protect their lead and this highly frustrated both the East Bengal players and fans in the stands. Peerless almost added more in the 67th minute and after some impressive work from Nabi, the ball made its way to Wolfe who sprinted ahead and hit a long shot which wasn’t much far away from the net.

But after a lot of pressure, East Bengal finally found their equalizer in the 72nd minute. The two former Minerva Punjab stars made it happen, with substitute Bali Gagandeep sending in a terrific cross from the left wing into the back post, where Kassim Aidara tapped in home. The visitors created a chance through a counterattack in the 76th minute, when Sharukh Rahman stole the ball and passing it to Wolfe, whose ambitious chip from a long way out went blazing into the stands.

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Just when it looked like East Bengal had gained momentum, they were shocked once again when Peerless scored another one against the run of play. In the 78th minute, after a decent move through the right, the ball was passed to Nara Hari Shrestha whose powerful shot deflected off Samad and sailed past Dagar's grasp into the net. East Bengal was rattled by that, but attempted an instant response and almost gone one four minutes later when Laldanmawia Ralte's header was well collected by Pal.

Peerless were frustrating the hosts by just passing around the ball as much as possible and the experienced Nabi was excellent on the day. He passed the ball to Shrestha in the 90th minute and the former Mohun Bagan players' thunderous long-ranger had Dagar scrambling but went just over. East Bengal huffed and puffed looking for a way back, but couldn’t find one. This shocking defeat puts them three points behind Mohun Bagan and with only two games to go, their CFL title dreams seem to have ended.