East Bengal’s long-awaited win in the Indian Super League (ISL) 2024/25 came on Friday. The Red and Gold Brigade edged past the inform Northeast United FC at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Kirangan, Salt Lake. The home side could have scored in the first minute itself but PV Vishnu’s close-range poke from Jeakson Singh’s cross was saved by Gurmeet Singh instinctively. Dimitrios Diaminatakos was knocked down in the third minute, prompting Mahdi Talal to come up.
The Highlanders had a fantastic opportunity to take the lead in the 12th minute, which went against the flow of the game. Jithin MS easily defeated Lalchununga in the foot sprint thanks to a long ball from the back. Prabhsukhan Gill reacted slowly, but Jithin’s cut back to Pathib Gogoi was fumbled by the Indian forward. He took an extra touch, indicating that the remaining East Bengal defenders had recovered.
East Bengal gained the lead in the 23rd, with the persistent pressure eventually paying off. Following a corner kick, the ball bounced around the six-yard box. The ball was at Diaminatakos’ foot, and his shot was cleared only as far as Tala at the opposite end of the box. His dink back in was greeted by a creeping Diaminatakos, who headed the ball into the net past Gurmeet.
NorthEast United’s tactical blunders hand East Bengal
Northeast United needed an answer and relied on their counters to accomplish so. In the 38th minute, Buanthanglun Samte’s cross from the left flank was met by Ajaraie, but his header hit the crossbar, and while reacting quickly, his improvised effort went wide. The game saw two red cards for one team each, Mohammed Ali Bemammer and Saul Crespo received yellow cards for their involvement in the fight.
Even though nothing came from the resulting free kick, the Highlanders were swiftly down to ten. Bemammer was awarded a second yellow card and sent off in the 69th minute. Complacency set in as Lalchununga surged after Ajaraie had passed, forcing the referee to dip into his pockets again. A second yellow and another red card. In the 87th, there were the same amount of men on each side.
