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East Bengal have finally pulled off the trigger against Gokulam Kerala FC to earn a morale-boosting win in the I-League before the all-important Kolkata Derby.
In their third home match of the season, the red and golds finally got back to winning ways. They defeated Gokulam Kerala FC by 3-1 at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on Saturday.
After three back-to-back losses, the pressure was mounting on the coach and the players. But the team showed enough potential to register their first win at home.
East Bengal were dominant in the first half as they scored two goals within the first 15 minutes.
Brandon Vanlalremdika scored his second goal of the campaign to put his team in the lead. Jobby Justin scored the second with a brilliant piece of skill.
After some early jitters in the second half, during which Gokulam reduced the margin, East Bengal found their rhythm once again and Lalralchullova’s goal in the 82nd minute all but secured three points for the club.
The Kolkata Derby is eight days away and East Bengal will have ample time to rectify their mistakes.
Let us look at the three seasons which helped East Bengal to win:
#3 Luck favoured slightly for red and golds
East Bengal might consider them lucky as they have not conceded more than one goal in the second half.
The Kolkata giant were nearly flawless in the first half were as they got numbers of opportunities.
Suddenly, their performance levels dropped in the second half and for at least 15 minutes as the team struggled to find their feet.
Fortunately, Gokulam Kerala FC were not as much threatening as they were needed to be in the second half. That made life easier for East Bengal as they slowly found their rhythm.
After the match, East Bengal coach Alejandro Menendez said,
“We will analyse later why the team did not fare well for the first 15 minutes of the second half. Obviously, we will try to improve that from our next matches.”
Also, at least two decisions of the referee went in favour of East Bengal. Firstly, East Bengal goalkeeper fouled Christian Sabah inside the box in the second half, which would’ve been awarded a penalty. Secondly, Lalrindika Ralte escaped a red card when he head-butted Felipe Castro after a rash challenge floored the former.
#2 Two early goals put helped to put pressure on the opponents, who were let down by defenders
East Bengal have won both their opening matches when they scored early. Against Gokulam too, the Red and Golds piled pressure on the opponents after two early goals. However, Gokulam defenders too cannot avoid their responsibility.
Gokulam Kerala FC coach Bino George loves to play an attacking brand of football. With two talented wingers, they often put the opposition defences to the sword. But in the first half, the usual style of Gokulam was missing from their game.
Gokulam allowed their opponents to play more on their half and there were no attacks either as East Bengal were dominating the game. The defenders were worst, to say the least.
Gokulam conceded two goals due to the dismal performance of the defenders. During the second goal, Mudde Musa failed to cover Jobby Justin, as the Keralite received the ball and passed to an unmarked Brandon Vanlalremdika. The latter had no problem in converting.
Gokulam produced an impressive performance early in the second half as the attackers got their rhythm back.
They got the goal due to a miscommunication from East Bengal goalkeeper Rakshit Dagar and defender Borja Gomez.
The Kozhikode-based team were relying on the counter-attack. But they missed a potent striker in their line-up.
Even Bino George also conceded after the match, “We missed a player like German who was lethal inside the box.”
Gokulam’s counter-attacking mentality led to danger and East Bengal got at least three wonderful opportunities in the second half and scored one through a brilliant placement of Lalramchullova.
Bidayasagar Singh and Brandon Vanlalremdika were the guilty parties as they missed two brilliant chances.
#3 Jobby shines amid improved team performance
Football fans should question Indian coach Stephen Constantine why he’s not calling up Jobby Justin in the national camp before an international match.
After all, Justin has improved his performance so much that it is almost a crime not to give the talented youngster a proper opportunity.
A player from Kerala, who is making his a name for himself in Kolkata is not something new. Before Justin, I M Vijayan, Raman Vijayan and even Gokulam Kerala FC coach Bino George are among so many who plied their trade in Kolkata.
Justin is the only Indian to be in the I-League top scorers’ list and on Saturday, he added one more.
During 14th minute, Lalrindika Ralte floated a pass behind Gokulam’s defence and Justin sped past Gokulam player Mudde Musa to receive the ball. He had only goalkeeper to beat and the Keralite made no mistake.
He also contributed during the first goal when his intelligent pass from the edge of the box was shot straight to the goal by Vanlalremdika.
He also chested down a brilliant ball for Enrique Esqueda who shot was just wide off the target.
Justin could’ve added one more in the second half when once again he had the goalkeeper to beat. Instead, he passed it to Vidayasagar Singh, who wasted the chance.
Justin’s performance was well enough to earn him a national call-up when India face Oman and Syria in friendly matches later this month.
“There is no special feeling for scoring against a team of my native state. I just worked on my game and that helped. It was my dream to score in Salt Lake stadium and I am happy to achieve it,” Justin said after the match.
Apart from Justin, East Bengal’s much-improved performance also helped them to secure three points. Three courageous changes from East Bengal coach Alejandro Menendez tilted the fortune in the club’s favour.
Johnny Acosta, who was lacking confidence in the last two matches, was replaced by India international Salam Ranjan Singh in the centre-back position. Another good change was the inclusion of Lalmadanmawia Ralte -- who was nursing an injury – in place of Yami Longvah.
Both Salam and Laldanmawia played well throughout the match. Salam was rock-solid on a day when Borja made some mistakes. The left-wing run, which was missing from the earlier matches, was back again.
Goalkeeper Rakshit Dagar was also brought back in the side. But after Ubaid, Rakshit too didn’t look solid under the bar his miscommunication from Borja led to the first goal. He missed an easy catch too in the second half, which led to a corner.
