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Real Kashmir narrowly escaped defeat at the hands of his East Bengal on a chilly Kolkata evening at the Salt Lake Stadium on Friday.
After a goalless first half, the visitors were leading for about 10 minutes just at the beginning of the first half, they conceded in the 56th minute and had to settle for a 1-1 stalemate.
At the end of the day, the Snow Leopards will be more than happy to snatch a point from the crucial away fixture. Although their coach David Robertson feels that they could have ended up on the losing side if East Bengal had played for five extra minutes.
During the post-match conference, David said,
“I’ve been at big clubs before. The underdogs take the lead, the favourites equalize. Then the crowds get behind them. So we knew we had to defend because I knew we never get good enough position. If the game went on a more 5-10 minutes, we might have lost the game.”
With just 10 seconds into the second half, East Bengal’s Lalramchullova conceded an own goal to give Real Kashmir the advantage.
Following that, the hosts pressed hard, making it evens in the 56th minute of the match. In spite of the repeated efforts from the red and gold brigade, Krijo and Co. managed to keep them at bay until the final whistle.
With the draw, Real Kashmir FC is jointly placed at the top of the I-League table with an accumulation of 18 points from 10 matches. Sharing his views about the matter, David said,
“Maybe we haven’t played as well as other teams, but we’ve maintained consistency in the first 10 games. Our main aim is to stay in the league and I think 18 points is enough to stay in the lead. But it’s great to be first.”
On the other hand, East Bengal’s tactician Alejandro Menendez was pleased with his team’s performance, even though they failed to collect all the three points on offer. “I’m very, very happy with the performance today. We made a complete match. We created many chances to score and dominated the match,” said the Spaniard.
Real Kashmir FC will play their next match against Mohun Bagan at the same venue on January 6 next year while East Bengal will travel to Bhubaneshwar to face off against a young and spirited Indian Arrows team.
