CFL Premier Division: United SC can't stop East Bengal's march towards title defence

East Bengal Club scored a 2-0 win against I-League rivals United SC in a Calcutta Premier Division – Super 12 match at the Saltlake Stadium to move closer to defending their CFL title. East Bengal Club moved to 25 points from nine matches, while United SC stay on 10 points from 10 matches.

The Purple Brigade of Eelco Schattorie started the match on a positive note and created a number of good moves, but the first goal was scored by the red-and-gold when their South Sudanese striker James Moga unleashed a powerful left-footed long-ranger to open the scoring in the 18th minute.

In the 29th minute, United SC got a brilliant chance with Nigerian striker Ranty Martins Soleye slotting the ball home calmly, but his joy was short-lived as the assistant referee raised the flag to cancel out the equaliser. Both the teams tried to attack the opponents box in the remaining minutes, but with no result as it stayed 1-0 for East Bengal.

In the second half, Deepak Mondal created a great chance all by himself as the veteran side-back ran down the right to rattle the East Bengal goal, but failed to keep the rebound on target. The second setback was suffered by United SC in the later portion of the second half, when striker Edeh Chidi doubled the lead in the 81st minute of the game for East Bengal after coming on as a second half substitute.

Despite the loss, Lalkamal Bhowmick won the ‘Man of the Match’ award, which is a proof of the fact that United SC didn’t lose out the midfield battle, but suffered due to poor finishing; while East Bengal were clinical with their chances.

United SC Eelco Schattorie talking about his team’s performance at the post-match press conference said, “Rafique and Sheikh Azim were brilliant. Taking Azim has been a great decision.”

And as Eelco Schattorie had said before the match it was a training session much under real conditions ahead of the upcoming Federation Cup which kicks-off on January 14.