The 85th match of the Hero Indian Super League was an entertaining one. In their first match without their coach Robbie Fowler, SC East Bengal managed to keep their playoff hopes alive with a 2-1 win over Jamshedpur FC. With the result, SC East Bengal came out of a 5 match winless slump that was troubling them.
The Kolkata giants started with an attacking mode in this match as they were desperate for a win. Matti Steinmann won a ball and passed to Narayan Das within 5 minutes of kick-off. Narayan curled the ball in the box and Stephen Eze cleared the ball for a corner.
In the next minute, Matti Steinmann found the net to open the account after a long time. Das cornered the ball and Steinmann did not fail to connect the header. SC East Bengal took the lead as the deserving team.
The Red and Gold looked compact today both in attack and in defence. At the 31st minute, Anthony Pilkington had a free-kick but the ball just flew away over the crossbar.
At the 41st minute, Bright Enobakhare went past three players with the ball to the opponent’s box. However, his run stopped as Peter Hurtley made a perfect interception. In the 3 minutes of the added time before the half time, Raju Gaikwad made a throw-in and Steinmann managed to contact head but it was too wide. At the halftime, East Bengal was ahead by one goal.
At the 58th minute, Bright passed the ball to Narayan Das who went to the box. Rehenesh TP was quick to stop the ball at the right time and Hurtley cleared it for a corner. At the 63rd minute, the men in steel started the counter-attack. Nerijus Valskis took a shot from a pass from Farukh Chowdhury but the shot hit the post and returned.
At 68th minute, Pilkington doubled the lead. He got the ball from Steinmann and found the net with a swift finish. The Red and golds were charged as two attempts were missed just after this. Bright took a shot that missed Pilkington at the 70th minute. After that, in the 79th minute, Pilkington tried his luck with a solo run and a clinical shot, which hit the post.
Jamshedpur FC also continued their attack as Boris Singh went past Das and took a shot but was stopped by Subrata Paul.
At the 83rd minute, Jamshedpur FC found a goal to reduce the difference. A few passes from Valskis and Anthony Monroy and Issac ended at Peter Hurtley and he made no mistake.
SC East Bengal became rock solid in both attack and defence as Jaques Maghoma took a wide shot from the pass of Steinmann and Subrata Paul saved a shot from Valskis. He was a wall today in the goal and his keeping saved the day for Red and Golds.
Hero of the Match: Matti Steinmann
From the start of the match, Steinmann created a positive impact on the game for his team. With 1 goal, 1 assist and 3 chances created, he was the deserving winner of the Hero of the Match award. Narayan Das won the DHL Winning Pass of the Match award.
With this win, SC East Bengal kept their hopes alive for the play-offs. They are now in the 9th position and have a long way to go, with 16 points from 16 matches. SC East Bengal will face Hyderabad FC on 12th February in the next match. The men in steel will have to take notice of their attacking third for a better result. They are now in the 7th position with 18 points from 16 matches and will face Chennaiyin FC next on 10th February.
