East Bengal comes from behind to continue their winning run in CFL

East Bengal came back with a strong reply after being one goal down in the opening ten minutes of the match to continue their winning steak in the CFL as they beat Southern Samity 2-1 to inch closer to their record hepta CFL triumph...

Southern Samity's Liberian forward Taurus provided an excellent cross from the left wing to Basant Singh who made no mistake to head the ball at the back of the net to put Southern ahead 1-0. After conceding the goal, the Red & Gold brigade started to play some attacking football as the combined attack of Dika, Dong, Rafique and Jairu simply destructed the Southern defense. Constant attacks resulted the ultimate intention as East Bengal scored the equalizer. In the 35th minute, Mehtab Hossain's corner kick was brilliantly headed by Jiten Murmu to score his 3rd goal of the Calcutta Football League as East Bengal got the equaliser. Flow of attacks continued to disturb Southern Samity defense as Jairu's shot was stopped by Southern midfielder Tamang with his hand in the added time. The referee was close enough and took no time to award a spot kick to East Bengal. Do-Dong Hyun made no mistake to give the lead just on the brisk of the half time. In the second half, the league leaders continued to create the rhythmic attacks. Md.Rafique's pricking effort needed an outstanding save from Southern goalkeeper Sourav. Southern's Nigerian defender Eche played like a leader on the heart of the defense as the Red & Gold brigade couldn't make it a goal-fest. East Bengal's midfield general Mehtab Hossain played a superb role as the holes of the Red & Gold defense was efficiently covered and this display helped him earn the Man of the match award.The battle between former Tollygunge Agragami Team mates Mehtab Hossain and Ashim Biswas got revived in their aggressive body language, though Ashim came on as a substitute. The only thing which can raise the eye-brows of the East Bengal coach, is the continuous goal drought of Nigerian forward Adileja. Though the overall performance would certainly give a satisfying note to the East Bengal camp ahead of the Kolkata Derby on 7th September. Mehtab Hossain after the match said, "We have to be more constructive in our next game as five of our front line players will be missing for the national duties. The forwards need to score more goals with the opportunities they are getting if we want do well in the next few games." Meanwhile, East Bengal supporters booed at Trevor Morgan and defender Calum Angus before leaving the stadium as East Bengal could not extend their lead in the second half. Coach Morgan was a bit bothered with the way his team became a bit defensive in the second half as he said,"I am extremely happy with the way my team came back in the first half. It was tremendous. But in the send half we allowed the opposition to put a bit of pressure as my players suddenly tried to sit back deep. If your midfielders do that as well, it puts immense pressure on the side." Morgan seemed a bit worried in the press conference as he won't get the service of 4 key players in the next game. Trevor said," I have the replacement of Arnab in Gurwinder and Narayan in Robert. The test would be to select alternatives of Rafique and Jairu. We have to handle it sensibly."