East Bengal President XI trounce United Sikkim in Bordoloi Trophy

The Red and Gold have qualified for the last four…

East Bengal President’s XI beat United Sikkim 2-0 in a group stage match of the Bordoloi Trophy played at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Guwahati earlier today. Jiten Murmu (73') and Adeleja (84') scored for the Red and Gold brigade to seal the deal and book a place in the semi-finals. East Bengal did not begin well in the first half with Bhaichung Bhutia’s young side using the flanks well to put pressure on the defense of the Red and Gold. The Indian football icon was present in the stadium to cheer his team. United Sikkim kept on piling the pressure as they looked a lot more fit and energetic on the field than the Red and Gold brigade. Though it seemed that East Bengal will carry on the form from the last game where they thrashed Bongobi 6-0. In phases East Bengal had their shoes up with the trio of Dong, Adeleja and Jiten having good attempts on goal but missed the target by a whisker. Academy boy Yami Longvah was effervescent in central midfield for the Red and Gold brigade with Nikhil Poojary. Although the first half ended in a goalless stalemate it was even ball possession for both the sides. In the second half it was a different East Bengal altogether. They used the flanks well to produce more attacks. Nikhil Poojary and Lalchanhima who came in for Prohlad Roy was dribbling and dodging the Sikkim full-backs and the best part was that they interchanged positions regularly. The flurry of attacks between the 50th-70th minute resulted in East Bengal getting that all important goal in the 73rd minute when Jiten Murmu scooped a delivery into the net from Nikhil Poojary from the left flank to give his team a 1-0 lead. The Ranjan Chaudhuri led side never looked back from there as East Bengal extended their lead few minutes later in the 84th minute when Adeleja converted a curling shot from academy boy Lalchanhima which was the second and final goal of the match. East Bengal custodian Dibyendu Sarkar was terrific tonight under the bars as he saved two definite goals. If those goals were scored by United Sikkim the story would have been completely different. With this win the Red and Gold brigade have full points from 2 games and they have booked place in the semi-finals. East Bengal next play ASEB Sports Club on Monday and it seemed that gaffer Ranjan Chaudhuri will try out a large number of his academy boys in the next game. (Photo by GoalNepal )