In a tough fight, I-League debutants USFC went down to East Bengal in the final quarter.
This time, Ashish Chettri led the USFC as captain while East Bengal came with Mehtab Hossain as the team captain. The home team received full support from the packed stadium till the final whistle.
In the first half, East Bengal maintained pressure on the home team with constant attacks but failed to make it through the wall put up by goalkeeper, Yoon Tae and stoppers of the USFC. In response, the home team also made some good attacks, however, the first half ended in a goalless draw.
The second half saw both teams playing neck-to-neck, launching attack after attack on each other’s goal post. It was only in the 82nd minute, that a free-kick shot by an East Bengal substitute, Lalrindika from near the D-box, deflected right into the goalpost becoming the only and winning goal of the match.
East Bengal captain, Mehtab Hossain was awarded the ‘Man of the Match’ title.
Addressing a press conference after the match, East Bengal coach, Trevor Morgan said, “This is a great win for us, and the credit goes to each player. Although it was difficult for the team to play on a different surface and after a long journey but we deserved this result”.
He added that the goal margin did not matter as long as the team won.
Expressing satisfaction on his team’s performance, USFC coach, Philip De Rider said that the team played a fantastic game and every player did a good job.
“Many of our players are suffering from injuries because of which maybe the attacks were not strong enough”, said the USFC coach and added that the long gap before their third match against defending champion, Dempo SC, would hopefully give them enough time to fully recover and bounce back in their next game.
“We played a good match and received full support from the home crowd but we could not control the scoreboard”, said USFC defender, Sandesh Jhingan and added that the team will continue with this positivity in their upcoming matches.
USFC will play the third home match against Dempo SC on 28 October.
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