North East United FC failed to break SC East Bengal’s resolve and had to be satisfied with a 1-1 draw in its last outing of ISL-8, at the Tilak Maidan Stadium, here, on Monday. North East United went ahead a minute before the half-time through Marco Sahanek but East Bengal restored parity early in the second half when Antonio Perosevic converted a penalty.
The result did not alter the situation for either. East Bengal continued at the bottom with 11 points from 19 matches while North East United FC finished the season in the penultimate spot with 14 points from 20 matches. The opening half saw East Bengal making more efforts but it was NEUFC that stole the lead in added time.
V.P. Suhair set up the goal with a nice cross that his upfront colleague Deshorn Brown failed to connect. The swerving delivery hit the upright and came straight to Sahanek, who drilled the rebound to the bottom of the net with a rasping left-footer.
Earlier, East Bengal was unlucky in not finding the lead in the 17th minute when a nice attempt from Naorem Mahesh came off the crosspiece after beating the defences of the NEUFC goalkeeper Mirshad Michu. East Bengal finally found the target when the NEUFC full-back Patrick Flottmann was hauled up for pushing East Bengal midfielder Fran Sota inside his own box while trying to win a header.
Perosevic made no mistake from the spot and ensured a point for East Bengal, which still has a match to play.
The result: NEUFC 1 (Perosevic 55-pen) drew with SC East Bengal 1 (Marco Sahanek 45+2).
