Nandhakumar Sekar produced a spectacular finish to help Emami East Bengal end its losing streak against its traditional rival Mohun Bagan Super Giant. The Chennai-born winger’s contribution saw East Bengal downing the Indian Super League champion Mohun Bagan by a solitary goal in the group-A league match of the Durand Cup, at the Salt Lake Stadium on Saturday and kept its chances alive in the tournament.
Playing its second match of the season East Bengal tallied four points from two outings and now needs a win against I-League winner Punjab FC in the final group league fixture to overtake the current leader Mohun Bagan (six points from three matches) and move to the quarterfinals.
Hoping to end a losing streak of a record eight matches against Mohun Bagan (Since January 2020), East Bengal came alive with a fine performance under its new Spanish coach Carles Cuadrat. East Bengal set the tone of the action with a better attack plan compared to Mohun Bagan which appeared to be in the experiment mode.
Despite fielding a newly strung combination, East Bengal showed a better plan execution and kept the star-studded Mohun Bagan on a tight leash. East Bengal had a couple of chances in the opening half and did well to keep the momentum after the break. Nandhakumar showed his calibre as a quality forward as he collected a pass from Saul Crespo, got the better of his challenger in Mohun Bagan midfielder Anirudh Thapa and beat the opposition goalkeeper Vishal Kaith with a curling left-footer that found the side of the net.
The results:
Group A: Mohun Bagan SG 0 lost to Emami East Bengal 1 (Nandhakumar 60); Group D: North East United FC 2 (Manvir Singh 24, Sandesh Jhingan 52-og) drew with FC Goa 2 (Rowllin Borges 45+4, NoahSadaoui 80-pen).
