Invincible East Bengal pip Aryan in CFL finale

The Red and Gold remained unbeaten throughout the season thus emulating their own feat from 1975 and 1977…

East Bengal beat Aryan by a goal from Adeleja (21') to emerge as unbeaten champions of the Calcutta Football League. The Red and Gold Brigade were without a lot of senior players in their squad but the youngsters made great use of the opportunity they received in the likes of Kousik Sarkar, Prohlad Roy, Dibyendu Sarkar and others. East Bengal got the solitary goal of the match in the 21st minute when Bikash Jairu's cross from the left flank was headed stupendously by Adeleja into the net. Aryan Club created a lot of opportunities in patches but failed to convert those as two defenders of the Red and Gold Brigade Kousik Sarkar and Arnab Mondal stood like a wall at the back. Custodian Dibyendu Sarkar too was magnificent between the sticks. East Bengal used the flanks well with the duo of Prohlad and Jairu switching ends in intervals and it distracted the attention of the Aryan full-backs and they got puzzled which resulted in the goal from Adeleja. In the second half, Aryan coach Raghu Nandy introduced Moses to replace Emmanuel as Moses partnered Kazeem in the attack to get the equaliser for them. Aryan wanted at least one point from this match to stay in a safe position but that did not happen. With this loss Aryan pushed themselves more into the relegation zone as four teams will be relegated from CFL Premier Division-A. East Bengal stumbled a few times in between but kept their calm till the end of regulation time to ensure that they win to remain undefeated this season. With this win, this is the third time in CFL history that East Bengal have emerged undefeated champions after 1975 and 1977. One more record was made this year as East Bengal won the league without facing arch-rivals Mohun Bagan and without playing a single match in Kolkata on their home ground. After the match, the whole East Bengal team thanked the the crowd for their support in the whole CFL campaign and even the crowd burnt crackers in the stadium adorned w with the colours of the Red and Gold. East Bengal will be flying to Guwahati today to participate in the Bordoloi Trophy and they will be accompanied by interim coach Ranjan Chowdhury who is in charge of the academy with goalkeeper coach Abhijit Mondal. Meanwhile, East Bengal announced squad for Bordoloi Trophy: Luis Barreto, Dibyendu Sarkar, Abhilash Paul, Babu Mondal, Kousik Sarkar, Samad Ali Mallick, Deepak Kumar, Calum Angus, Dong, Nikhil Poojary, Adeleja, Jiten Murmu, Prohlad Roy, Ashrapreetmr, Mehtab Singh, M. Clinton, T. Suranjit, Chinglen, Yami Longvah, Bidyasagar SIngh, Lalcchanhima, Prakash Sarkar.