Kolkata: Its deal for a commercial partner still not locked in, the Indian Super League (ISL) is staring at an uncertain future. Yet, in a city recently painted saffron, the Salt Lake stadium became an amphitheatre split equally in red-and-gold and green-and-maroon colours. It was proof that Indian football’s ability to leap from moribund to memorable through a Kolkata derby endures.
And what a match the teams dished out. It was fast, it was fantastic and for those of an East Bengal persuasion, frustrating. The stadium got its breath back at half-time and off they went again in the second half where East Bengal emerged first. Manvir Singh and Abhishek Singh Tekcham came close for Mohun Bagan Super Giant before Bipin Singh sent one into orbit.
Not till the final whistle did they stop. Edmund Lalrindika put East Bengal ahead in the 85th minute leading to huddles and hugs for a team waiting for 22 years for an Indian league title.
Lalrindika put his shirt on the corner-pole and held it aloft. A first win in the ISL Kolkata derby in 11 attempts for East Bengal was within touching distance and no one cared that Lalrindika had been booked for his celebration.
It lasted four minutes. All season Mohun Bagan had failed to score from corner-kicks. On a muggy Sunday evening, they had seven in the first half, four of them before East Bengal had got one. But it was the one in the 89th minute that broke the drought. Before Bipin Singh could realise what was happening, Jason Cummings had swung Dimitrios Petratos’s delivery home.
Both teams could have scored again but Bipin’s pass for Youssef Ezzejjari was wide and Jamie Maclaren was denied by East Bengal goalie Prabhsukhan Gill with what their fans would swear is the best left foot in Indian football. By then, Mohun Bagan had sent in all of their foreign firepower but Mohamed Rashid pressured Maclaren just enough for the Australian to head over for the match’s final action.
With both teams on 23 points but East Bengal on top with a goal difference of +5, ISL 12 will go down to the last match on Thursday to decide the winners. Not bad for a season that almost did not begin.
When the dust settles on this pulsating tie played in front of 62,000 fans, East Bengal will feel they could have won it in the first half. Jeakson Singh had spotted Bipin’s run and played him through in the 21st minute. With Anton Sojberg waiting, Bipin rounded off Vishal Kaith but had delayed his shot a touch and it went out off an Alberto Rodriguez deflection.
They had come clos in the 15th minute too when Sojberg hit the upright, this time Thomas Aldred getting a deflection. With neither team holding back, space was opening up behind the full backs and in the middle. Miguel Ferreira, whose killer pass was the assist for Lalrindinka, found Sojberg in the 36th minute but Kaith had anticipated his movement and plucked the ball off his feet.
At the other end, Sahal Abdul Samad was denied once each by Anwar Ali and Mohamad Rakip before Liston Colaco and Anirudh Thapa tested Gill from range. Through the season, East Bengal’s central defensive pair of Ali and Kevin Sibbile and Gill’s form have been an important reason why the dream of a first ISL title is closer than ever before.
