Mohun Bagan Super Giant and East Bengal played out a thrilling 2-2 draw in the 2023-24 Indian Super League, at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan Stadium in Kolkata on Saturday.
Brendan Hamill clattered into Mahesh Narem to announce the intentions of the Mariners from the word go. Barely a minute later, Shubashish Bose chopped down the same player.
East Bengal were not bogged down by the pressure every time they got the ball as Mahesh, on the right, played in Nishu Kumar, who in turn sent in a pinpoint cross from the left that was poached perfectly by Ajay Chhetri. The Red and Gold brigade got the lead in just the third minute.
Mohun Bagan was shellshocked but trouble started soon after for Anwar Ali., who was returning from an injury. The defender looked as he tried to stop a prancing Saul Crespo with Anwar feeling some discomfort in his left hamstring. He tried to battle on through but had to be substituted as young Amadeep replaced him.
Mohun Bagan had been growing in confidence as the trio of Anirudh Thapa, Sahal Abdul Samad and Dimitrios Petratos took control of mid-field. Hamill moved to the right of defence and in one of his runs forward, found Armando Sadiku with a dangerous cross. The Albanian got in front of Lalchungnunga to flick the pass past Prabhshukhan Gill for the equaliser in the 17th minute
East Bengal’s Crespo soon after had to be replaced by Sayan Banerjee.
The game grew increasingly cagey with East Bengal returning every tackle and challenge from Mohun Bagan. There were chances for either side but neither could break the deadlock going into the break.
After the restart, the tackles and fouls resumed as Manvir Singh replaced Kiyan Nassiri. A crunching challenge from Ajay forced Hamill to be substituted as Glan Martins came on and Deepak Tangri moved into defence.
The change affected play immediately as East Bengal’s counter led to Tangri climbing onto the back of Mahesh as the referee pointed to the spot. Cleiton Silva stepped up and converted the penalty with a panenka in the 55th minute.
Come the 66th minute, Mahesh was concussed after knocking into Subhasish and had to be substituted.
Bothe Carles Cuadrat and Antonio Lopez Habas made double changes – Mohun Bagan’s Sumit Rathi and Jason Cummings in for Tangri and Thapa as VP Suhair and Edwin Vanspaul in place of Ajay and Mahesh for East Bengal.
As the match seemed destined to end in East Bengal’s favour, Sahal’s determined presses finally yielded him the ball inside the box. He tried to find the run of Manvir but the cross bounced off Lalchununga and fell kindly for Petratos, who slotted the ball into the back ion the net in the 97th minute.
The last few minutes, of which seven were added on for stoppages, saw frantic football. The draw at the final whistle meant it was the first instance of the Kolkata derby not yielding a winner in the ISL.
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