East Bengal FC secured a 1-0 win over NorthEast United FC in a tight clash at the Salt Lake Stadium, in Kolkata, on Friday.
Dimitrios Diamantikos of East Bengal headed a deep cross into the goal in the 23rd minute, securing all three points in what is EBFC’s first win of the campaign.
Despite the win, EBFC remains at the bottom of the table, with just four points from eight matches, and NorthEast United remains in third, with 15 points after 10 games.
#5: At long last, a victory for EBFC!
The ever-so-proud football club of East Bengal has been going through a tumultuous 2024-25 ISL season.
After six defeats in their opening six matches, things looked very grim for the Kolkata-based club, but some spark ignited after a 0-0 draw against Mohammedan SC right before the international break.
They managed to build on that solitary point and have secured a hard-fought victory over a very good NEUFC side, that came into the game with a four-match unbeaten streak.
The big question though, is can EBFC build on these two games and resurrect their season?
#4: NEUFC’s unbeaten run comes to an end
NEUFC’s first five games of the 2024-25 ISL campaign was shaky to put it neatly, with just one win and two draws.
But they have since turned things around with a string of fine performances and came into this match on the back of a four-match unbeaten streak, of which they had won three.
Against bottom-of-the-table East Bengal, they were expected to make it four wins in five games, but football as they say, is a funny game.
A lackluster performance from NEUFC despite EBFC going down to 10 men meant that they couldn’t find it in themselves to draw the match.
They will look at this as a disappointing result, no matter how their season can turn out.
#3: East Bengal and red cards, a new-found love of ISL 11
East Bengal have made it a habit of finishing games with ten men. This is the fourth instance of them going down a man in ISL 11, and it is the third game on the trot they have not managed to finish a match with their full strength on the pitch.
In today’s episode of the red card-EBFC love story, we had Mohammed Ali Bemammer sent off after committing two bookable offences. Although his sending off happened quite late in the game, when you are holding just a one-goal lead, such things can surely be avoided.
While they have enough problems already what with points being scarce, they cannot afford to have red card and player suspension issues on top of it.
#2: Coaches talk
As expected, East Bengal’s coach Oscar Bruzon was delighted with his team’s performance, especially with the way the team came together after going down to ten men.
“Very importantly, we did not think we were inferior to them, we did not step back and it is a sweet victory,” he said in the post-match presentation.
He also acknowledged the tactical tweaks he made especially with playing Jeakson on the right side of midfield. “The main reason was to close down the no.14 (Ajaraie) who is a key player for NorthEast,” he added.
Meanwhile, Juan Benali, head coach of NEUFC, admitted that his players were a bit too nervous in the final third, leading to them wasting goal-scoring opportunities.
“The problem is we got too nervous. We need to be more calm, and the veteran players should take more responsibility. We cannot make such mistakes,” he said.
#1: What next for both teams?
East Bengal will face Chennaiyin FC at the Marina Arena in Chennai on December 7th, hoping to extend their two-match unbeaten streak to three.
NorthEast United will want to get back to winning ways when they face Mohun Bagan at home on 8th December.
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