East Bengal preserved its winning form at the expense of Bengaluru FC, which it downed 2-1 in a matchweek-21 fixture of the ISL-10 at the Salt Lake Stadium here on Sunday to collect the full quota of points. Saul Crespo got the lead from a penalty in the first half while Cleiton Silva produced the winner late in the second half for East Bengal. Sunil Chhetri, who came in as a second-half substitute, scored the only Bengaluru goal from a penalty.
Having beaten Kerala Blasters in its previous outing, East Bengal tallied 24 points from 21 matches to climb to the sixth spot dislodging Chennaiyin FC (also on 24 from 20 matches) on a better goal average. Bengaluru, which stayed on 22 from 21, saw its play-off chances evaporating after the loss.
Bengaluru put in more hard work but East Bengal enjoyed the advantage by finding the only goal of the opening half. The home side found the lead off a 19th minute penalty conversion after Bengaluru defender Fanai tackled the East Bengal winger Mahesh Singh from behind inside own box. Saul Crespo came up to score from the spot and East Bengal maintained the lead till break as it succeeded in denying the aggressive opponent some good scoring chances.
Bengaluru levelled the issue off a penalty at the hour mark, which it earned thanks to some good work in the East Bengal box by Chhetri. The Indian captain scored from the spot to get his 61st ISL goal but his effort was nixed by the East Bengal captain Cleiton Silva who nodded home an inch-perfect cross from Nishu Kumar in the 73rd minute to secure the points for East Bengal.
The result:
East Bengal 2 (Crespo 19-pen, Silva 73) bt Bengaluru FC 1 (Chhetri 60-pen)
