I-League: Esqueda's goal keeps East Bengal in the title hunt

Panchkula, March 3 (IANS) The battle for the 12th Hero I-League title winner just got interesting as Minerva Punjab FC suffered a 0-1 loss against Kolkata Giants Quess East Bengal at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium, here on Sunday.

With this win, Quess East Bengal are just a point shy of table toppers Chennai City FC, which along with the Red and Golds, would play their last league game on March 9. Enrique Esqueda scored the winning goal for Quess East Bengal in the 75th minute.

While Quess East Bengal now travel to Kozhikhode to play Gokulam Kerala FC on March 9, Chennai City FC will host defending champions Minerva Punjab for their game on the same day.

The defending champions started the game on a pressing note and enjoyed a good spell of possession in the first few minutes, but East Bengal did not allow the hosts an inch in midfield. The game was mostly played in the middle of the park in the first quarter.

East Bengal, with their urgency for a win, did try pressing hard but full marks to the organised defence of Minerva, which ensured that the visitors do not get an opportunity to draw first blood. The Warriors, on the contrary, started pressing hard in phases, but could not create any threatening moments.

Esqueda, Santos and Ralte combined well to come close to scoring twice, but some great keeping by Arshdeep and the woodwork contributed to the first 45 minutes of the game remaining 0-0.

The second half began with East Bengal taking the initiative to go into the lead, but failed to breach the Minerva defence on most occasions. Minerva, on the other hand, kept attacking in short bursts through the combination of Juan Quero and Sreyas VG, but failed to find an opportunity to take the lead.

East Bengal, however, came really close to scoring on a couple of occasions but some exceptional goalkeeping by Minerva's Arashdeep ensured that the visitors did not get the elusive goal. Minerva, which were playing an organised game, somehow gave way to the visitors, when a wrong clearance saw Enrique Esqueda made no mistake in grabbing the opportunity and find the back of the net in the 75th minute.

The game, thereafter, saw both the teams playing on an attacking note, with the former champions aiming for an equaliser, while East Bengal hoped for an insurance goal. The game finally came to an end with Minerva Punjab FC losing 0-1 to East Bengal.