Thursday, Feb 26, 2004
Thursday, Feb 26, 2004 |
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Football
By Our Sports Reporter
KOLKATA, FEB. 25. Kingfisher East Bengal recorded a 4-2 win over the Malaysian Negri Sembilan here at the Salt Lake Stadium on Wednesday. The group E league tie for Asian Football Confederation Cup turned out to be an unequal battle in the end as the host dominated. East Bengal's convincing show against Negri Sembilan seemed to suggest that team is headed for long distance in the continental club championship. Having beaten Geylang United 3-2 visiting Singapore barely 14 days ago in the opening group match, East Bengal remained the only team in the group not to taste defeat so far. The win against the Malaysian club helped East Bengal break into a sole lead in the group league table with six full points from two consecutive victories. This also stretched its tally of international wins to six in the season. The six goals were spread evenly over the two sessions of play and East Bengal emerged stronger on each count doubling both the goals and the margin of win. Planning a defensive approach, Negri Sembilan found its strategy going awry as its defence was opened up in the very first minute. But with Alvito D'Cunha putting his left-footed attempt wide, the Malaysians survived the first onslaught. The visitor failed to hold on for long as East Bengal struck through Mike Okoro in the ninth minute. With star striker Baichung Bhutia preferring to use his talents as a provider, the Nigerian was perfectly set up inside the box as former heeled a pass outwitting a the Sembilan defence. Okoro made no mistake with an angular finish. Bhutia was again in a selfless role in the 32nd minute as he let his Brazilian team-mate up front, Cristiano Junior, take the penalty that resulted after he was brought down inside the opponent box by the Sembilan custodian, Cajetan Oparaugo. Junior scored to make it 2-0 but the visitor pulled one back through Ranjan Al Koran just when the host defence seemed to relax in the injury-time of the first session. The Malaysian club made a brief resurgence in the second session scoring the equaliser in the 63rd minute. Substitute Saiyadi Abdul Majid's brilliant freekick from around 25 yards gave no chance to East Bengal custodian Sangram Mukhrejee, who dived full length just to see the ball sailing through the top angle. East Bengal sought the lead back in the within five minutes as Bhutia brought up a great show of athleticism diving forward to score a Subhas Chakraborty cross. Junior rounded off the scoring with a solo effort in the 76th minute. The two quick goals took away the resolve off the visitor. East Bengal next visits Maldives on April 7 to play Island FC in its third match of the league.
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