Bartholomew Ogbeche performed a hat-trick to help Hyderabad FC crush East Bengal 4-0 in an Indian Super League fixture at the Tilak Maidan Stadium, Vasco, on Monday and move to the top of the table. Aniket Jadhav scored the other goal.
SC EB made a couple of costly errors in the first half, allowing HFC to score twice. Hyderabad coach Manolo Marquez, aware of SC EB’s shaky defence, employed two of his best attackers: experienced Nigerian Bartholomew Ogbeche and young Spaniard Javier Siverio.
The Indian trio of Nikhil Poojary, Hitesh Sharma, Akash Mishra and Aniket Jadhav was at the forefront of the attacks on the flanks as Hyderabad made numerous forays into the SC EB box.
HFC broke through in the 21st minute after three successive corners. Ogbeche’s header took a minor deflection off East Bengal defender Semboi Haokip and slipped out of East Bengal goalkeeper Arindam Bhattacharya’s reach.
SC EB had an opportunity to equalise in the 40th minute, but Joao Victor pulled off a goalline save to deny Antonio Perosevic.
In the 44th minute, Ogbeche made the most of another defensive error by SC EB centre-back Adil Khan to score his second. A minute later, Aniket capped a solo effort with a neat finish before Ogbeche netted his third in the 74th minute.
The result: SC East Bengal 0 lost to Hyderabad FC 4 (Ogbeche 21, 44 & 74, Aniket 45).
