The Hindu : Sport / Football : East Bengal back on top

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Wednesday, Mar 30, 2005

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East Bengal back on top

By Our Sports Reporter

KOLKATA, MARCH 29. Holder Kingfisher East Bengal regained its position at the top beating State Bank of Travancore (SBT) 2-0 in a 14th round match of the IX National Football League at the Salt Lake Stadium here on Tuesday.

There was no twist to the tale as East Bengal came up trumps, while SBT succumbed to its sixth successive loss — out of a total of nine defeats.

East Bengal has 30 points from 14 matches, nudging Dempo SC of Goa (28 points from 14) to the second spot, while SBT remained at the bottom of the league with nine points from 14 matches.

East Bengal, desperate to reclaim the top position which it lost following a 3-2 defeat by Sporting Clube de Goa three days ago, found an easy prey in the Kerala outfit.

SBT could have gone into the lead in the fifth minute but for Mohammad Rafi frittering away a sitter. Soon East Bengal went into the lead with Baichung Bhutia scoring off a solo effort. The Bhutia goal stood out for its brilliance in a general tenor of drab fare. With SBT adopting defensive tactics, East Bengal earned three more chances but Syed Rahim Nabi, Climax Lawrence and Chandan Das failed to beat the SBT custodian, Harshal Rahman.

SBT had a chance to equalise in a 42nd minute counter-attack, but the goal remained elusive. The second session continued in the same vein. S. Malswamtluanga's name was added to the fumblers' list as the attacking medio failed to double the lead. On the other hand SBT had a chance in the 88th minute when Shivakumar managed to keep his attempt on target off a corner. But the East Bengal custodian, Rajat Ghosh Dastidar, brought off a timely save. In injury time substitute Subhas Chakraborty, who was playing his first NFL match after a prolonged injury lay-off, found the net with a brilliant left-footer.

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