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The slim I-League title chances of East Bengal Club ended this afternoon with a two-all draw at reigning I-League champions Dempo SC at the Tilak Maidan in Vasco, Goa.
The draw was East Bengal’s fifth in a row and the Kolkata giants have 44 points from 24 matches, seven points less then Churchill Brothers SC with two matches to play and that means the end of their title challenge, and also five behind Pune FC on 49 points in second spot. Meanwhile Dempo remain fifth with 37 points from 25 matches.
East Bengal brought their AFC Cup form to Goa as they were in control early on, but they missed some easy chances and only in the 17th minute Penn Orji gave them the lead. The red-and-gold went into the break with that slender lead, but three minutes into the second half substitute Joy Ferrao equalised for Dempo with a header off a Godwin Franco free-kick. Suddenly it was a different game with Dempo in-charge and putting pressure on East Bengal.
Another substitute in John Menyongar gave the Goans a 74th minute lead and it seemed they were heading for a win before East Bengal winger Ishfaq Ahmed equalised for the Kolkata side in the 83rd minute in a move with another substitute Andrew Barisic. Both sides had their chances towards the end, but it end in a two-all draw.
MATCH STATS
Dempo SC 2-2 (0-1) East Bengal Club – Goals: 0-1 Penn Ikechukwu Orji (17′), 1-1 Joy Ferrao (48′), 2-1 John D. Menyongar (74′), 2-2 Ishfaq Ahmed (83′)
Dempo SCSubhasis Roy Chaudhury – Selwyn Fernandes, Rowilson Rodrigues, Cressan Antao, Peter Carvalho (51′ John D. Menyongar) – Anthony Pereira, Godwin Franco, Clifford Miranda (46′ Joy Ferrao), Nicolau Borges – Ryuji Sueoka, Koko Sakibo
East Bengal ClubGurpreet Singh Sandhu – Thokchom Naoba Singh, Uga Okpara, Gurwinder Singh, Saumik Dey – Sanju Pradhan (72′ Isfaq Ahmed), Mehtab Hossein, Penn Ikechukwu Orji (77′ Andrew Barisic), Lalrindika Ralte – Chidi Edeh, Baljit Singh Sahni (61′ Cavin Peter Lobo)
RefereeC.R. Srikrishna (Tamil Nadu)
Man of the MatchGodwin Franco (Dempo)
