East Bengal prove too strong for Pailan Arrows

Pailan Arrows proved out to be no match for resurgent Kingfisher East Bengal, as the hosts defeated Arrows by 4-1 in the 15th round I-League clash, played at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, on Monday (January 17).

After Pen Orji had opened the scoring for East Bengal in the 27th minute, Tolgay Ozbey scored a brace in 30th & 76th minute respectively. Robert Lalthlamuana scored East Bengal’s fourth goal in the 57th minute. The consolation goal for Pailan was scored by stopper-back Prathamesh Maulingkar in 60th minute.

Australian Tolgay turned out to be the difference between the two teams, as he remained a constant threat upfront along with Penn Orji. East Bengal, who began on an aggressive note put constant pressure on the Pailan defence. And it yielded results soon.

Pailan conceded the first goal in 27th minute, when Orji headed in a rebound after rival goalkeeper Naveen Kumar had denied Sanju Pradhan from close.

Three minutes later, Penn passed the ball to Tolgay, who blasted in as powerful left- footer to double the score. The scoreline stayed two-nil in favour of the Red-and-gold at the interval.

Changing over, East Bengal kept up the pressure. The strategy proved successful again in the 57th minute when Penn cleverly passed the ball to Robert Lalthlamuana, who came in out of nowhere to score the third goal.

Tolgay again found the back of the Pailan’s empty net to score a brace in 76th minute.

Pailan did pull one back in the 60th minute when Prathamesh Maulingkar headed in a Prabir Das corner.

The 10th round encounter between the two teams had ended in a goalless draw.

With this win East Bengal moved to 30 points from 15 matches while Pailan stay on 7 points from 14 matches.

Tolgay Ozbey was adjudged the Man of the Match.