First ISL Kolkata Derby Win For East Bengal
First ISL Kolkata Derby Win For East Bengal: ISL 2024-25
After a devastating 3:0 loss to Chennaiyin FC at home, the Red and Golds bounced back to win their first ever Kolkata Derby win in Indian Super League. The game between these two Kolkata Giants is also a tale of a rivalry, but it was hard to tell that by looking at the galleries of the Salt Lake Stadium. It was almost empty, especially the Mohammedan galleries. It was evident that supporters of both the teams were unhappy as Mohammedan and East Bengal were at the 13th and 11th place, respectively.
Mohammedan SC started the game trying to build up attacks from the back. But that attempt was interrupted early on in the game when East Bengal got the ball and made a counter. Nishu’s delivery into the box towards Messi Bouli was neutralised and East Bengal got a corner. Mahesh’s beautiful cross inside the box was headed by Anwar Ali, but the ball was just off target. Within a minute, Mahesh passed to Messi and then Messi passed to Vishnu. Vishnu ran with the ball but took a shot instead of passing to Diamantakos. The ball was way off target. Mohammedan soon started to take advantage of East Bengal making mistakes in the final third. The first dangerous attack for Mohammedan was when their Brazilian forward Franca took a shot but the ball went off target. Within a moment the Black Panthers made another attack. From a counter attack, Alexis Gomez passed to Franca on the left side of the box. The Brazilian passed to Manvir but he failed to put the ball in the goal as he missed it and it was cleared by Nishu. East Bengal were lucky that there was not any contact, otherwise it would have easily broken the deadlock.
East Bengal were slowly getting the hold of the game. Vishnu was fouled on the left side of the box by Joe Zohera and the Red and Golds were given a free kick. Mahesh made a false while Nishu made a cross. It was punched out by Mohammedan keeper Padam Chettri. This was followed by attacks after attacks from East Bengal. At the 14th minute, Messi Bouli got the ball in the defensive third and immediately made a pass to Mahesh. Mahesh played it to Diamantakos. Diamantakos received the ball and went into the box, overlooking Nandha, the only East Bengal player present inside the box. Diamantakos decided to run with the ball, nutmegged Florent Ogier, but was brought down due to a slight collision with the French defender. Diamantakos was asking for a penalty kick but Crystal John rightfully ignored that. Within seconds, Messi got the ball on the left side and was forced to take a shot as no East Bengal player was present. The ball hit Ogier and went out for a corner kick. Nishu Kumar took the corner and the ball hit the cross piece and went to Messi on the right side. Messi held on to the ball for a long time and the chance was wasted. Soon after this, Rakip made a pass to Messi and then Messi passed the ball to Diamantakos who was open inside the box. The Greek forward tried to put the ball in the back of the net with the inside of his foot, instead he he put it wide. After a minute or two, Nishu Kumar received the ball and took a grounded shot from outside the box. The ball went slightly off from the goal.
Minutes later, East Bengal received a free kick at a great zone when Messi Bouli was brought down by French defender Ogier. Diamantakos took a powerful shot but it hit the wall. East Bengal made another attack within a minute. Hector Yuste made a brilliant long pass to Messi. He went on with the ball from the left flank and made a beautiful cross for Diamantakos. But the Greek continued to disappoint as the ball hit his head and went out for a throw in. But soon came the moment East Bengal supporters were waiting for. At the 27th minute, Vishnu received the ball on the left side and made a beautiful through to Mahesh. Mahesh ran with the ball and took a perfectly placed shot to break the deadlock for the Red and Golds. After multiple attacks, East Bengal had that goal coming and was well deserved.
At the 31st minute, Mohammedan had another great chance. Their Austrian forward Marc Andre Schmerbock received the ball inside the box and took a shot but it was saved by East Bengal keeper Prabhsukhn Singh Gill. East Bengal continued with their attacks. Vishnu took a grounded shot but it was saved by Padam Cheittri. Nishu Kumar made a great pass to Messi Bouli and the Cameroonian’s powerful strike was just over the crosspiece. Just before the half time break, Lalrinfela fouled Mahesh and referee awarded East Bengal a free kick. Alexis was booked as he kicked the ball away after the whistle was blown, surprisingly, Lalrinfela was not booked for the foul. Referee Crystal John soon blew the Half Time whistle and East Bengal was up by 1:0 at the half time break.
In the second half, the first great chance was when Diamantakos got the ball at the half line mark. Instead of passing to wide open Messi Bouli and starting a dangerous counter attack, the Greek forward took a shot which was way off target. At the 59th minute, Mehraj Ud Din Wadoo subbed off Schmerbock for Robi Hansda, who recently won the Santosh Trophy with West Bengal. This marked a proud moment for all the Bengali Football fans as it was Robi Hansda’s ISL debut. Within a minute, Saul Crespo was subbed on by Oscar Bruzon and Nandhakumar was subbed off. At the 64th minute, Messi made a cross for Diamantakos but he couldn’t touch the ball. It went to Mahesh and he attempted a half volley. The shot was saved by Padam Chettri. From the corner, Mahesh’s cross was blocked and it came back to him. He passed to Hector Yuste inside the box but the shot was just off target. From the goal kick, Padam Chettri passed the ball to Lalrinfela but the defender did not notice Crespo right behind him. East Bengal skipper touched the ball to pass to Messi Bouli and the Cameroonian made a through ball to Saul Crespo and the Spanish midfielder made a small chip to struck the ball at the back of the net. ‘Super Sub’ Saul Crespo made an impact within five minutes of being subbed on.
However, the two goal lead did not last long. Mohammedan soon made a brilliant counter attack. Nishu Kumar made mistake in a throw in and the ball was headed by Ogier towards Alexis Gomez, who received the ball and passed it to Robi Hansda. The ISL debutant made a through to Franca. Franca ran with the ball with Rakip running along side him. The Brazilian put the ball in the back of the net and brought Mohammedan back to the game even though East Bengal keeper Gill got his hand on the ball. East Bengal were trying their best to restore the two goals cushion. At the 70th minute, Nishu’s corner was headed by Yuste but the ball struck the crossbar and went to Crespo. His cross inside the box was headed by Anwar Ali but it went straight to the hands of Padam Chettri.
Messi Bouli was surprisingly subbed off for David at the 75th minute. After that substitution, East Bengal’s attacks were not the same anymore. They were lacking the skills of Messi, who impressed everyone by his excellent abilities. Soon Mohammedan was looking like they would equalise. A big chance was at the 76th minute when Gomez took a shot from outside the box and Gill blocked it. On the rebound, Hansda took a shot from inside the 6 yard box. The ball hit the crossbar and went to Lalremsanga, who took a shot but the ball was cleared away from the goal-line by Anwar Ali. This attack stopped the hearts of all the East Bengal supporters. Mohammedan were unlucky they were not able to make it 2:2.
The absence of Messi was clearly evident in the last quarter of the game. The last 15 minutes were filled with attacks after attacks from the ISL debutants. At the 88th minute, another surprising substitution came when Gill was subbed off for Debjit Majumder. Just when discussions started to rise between the East Bengal supporters, the third goal came for the Red and Golds, this time from the former Mohammedan SC player, David Hmar Lalhlansanga. East Bengal signed David this season from Mohammedan SC and he secured the victory for his new side.From Nishu’s throw, the ball was headed by Diamantakos to David, who passed it ball back to Diamantakos on the left flank. Diamantakos made a cross to recently subbed on Provat Lakra, who chest trapped the ball and passed to David. David took a turn and shot the ball with his left foot to make it 3:1 for the Red and Golds and raised his arms to the sky and did not celebrate the goal against his former side. Even though David denied to celebrate the goal, the East Bengal supporters already started celebrating their first ever ISL Kolkata Derby win.
The game ended 3:1 in favour of East Bengal FC. Even though East Bengal still stayed in the 11th spot, the three points still kept a slight mathematical hope of finishing in the top 6. They will face Punjab FC next on February 22nd. They will have a chance to overtake them. As for the other Kolkata side, Mohammedan SC, they remains on the bottom of the table. As it stands, they will not likely finish above the last two spots. After this game, East Bengal remains unbeaten against Mohammedan in any national league, including NFL, I-League and ISL.