I-League: East Bengal trash United Sikkim FC 6-0

After five draw in a row, East Bengal Club returned to winning ways with a 6-0 demolition of relegated United Sikkim FC at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.East Bengal moved to 47 points from 25 matches and with one match to go, they have the chance to finish second as Pune FC are only two points ahead on 49 points, while United Sikkim FC stay on 15 points and will finish as the bottom club in the I-league table.

The red-and-gold took an early 8th minute lead when Naoba Singh played a ball for Penn Ikechukwu Orji and the Nigerian scored past Rakshit Kumar in the USFC goal. Thereafter, USFC could have equalised through Pablo Aracil Rodriquez after an Arnab Mondal mistake, but Abhijit Mondal was there to deny the Spanish striker. But thereafter, it was one-way traffic with Mehtab Hossain scoring with a long-range scorcher in the 21st minute, followed by Lalrindika Ralte chipping the ball into the USFC goal in the 35th minute. It remained 3-0 at the breather.

After the break, it continued to be a one-sided game though East Bengal waited until the end to double their score. First it was a goal from substitute Cavin Peter Lobo in the 80th minute off a Chidi Edeh pass, then Andrew Barisic scored his first I-League goal off a penalty in the 88th minute, and only a minute later Chidi Edeh added his name to the goalscorers list off a pass from Penn Orji.

In the end, East Bengal Club won convincingly 6-0 against a United Sikkim FC side which once more sadly proved that it is not I-League material.

MATCH STATS

East Bengal Club 6-0 (3-0) United Sikkim FC – Goals: 1-0 Penn Ikechukwu Orji (8′), 2-0 Mehtab Hossain (21′), 3-0 Lalrindika Ralte (35′), 4-0 Cavin Peter Lobo (80′), 5-0 Andrew Barisic (88′ pen), 6-0 Chidi Edeh (89′)

East Bengal ClubAbhijit Mondal – Thokchom Naoba Singh, Arnab Mondal, Raju Eknath Gaikwad, Saumik Dey – Ishfaq Ahmed (56′ Sanju Pradhan), Mehtab Hossain, Penn Ikechukwu Orji, Lalrindika Ralte (58′ Cavin Peter Lobo) – Chidi Edeh, Andrew Barisic

United Sikkim FCRakshit Kumar – Nim Tshering Lepcha (87′ Sonam Bhutia), Anwar Ali [C], Sandesh Jhingan, Munmun T. Lugun – Sahenshah Ansari, Syed Farid (83′ Thupden Bhutia), Ashish Chettri (52′ Raju Debnath), Nima Tamang – Pablo Aracil Rodriquez, Nurudeen Salau

RefereeM.B. Santosh Kumar (Kerala)