Bengaluru ends their season on a high by defeating East Bengal 1-0

Bengaluru ended their disappointing 2021-22 campaign on a high, as they defeated East Bengal by a 1-0 margin in ‘Match 107’ of the 2021-22 Indian Super League season. Sunil Chhetri’s goal proved to be the differentiating factor between these two sides.

East Bengal head coach Mario Rivera made five changes to the team that drew 1-1 against NorthEast United. In defense, Ananta Tamang was handed his debut at Joyner Lourenco’s expense, whilst Raju Gaikwad came in for the injured Hira Mondal. Besides that, Sankar Roy, Mohammad Rafique and Fran Sota were replaced by Suvam Sen, Wahengbam Luwang and Subha Ghosh respectively.

On the other hand, Bengaluru head coach Marco Pezzaiouli made three changes to the team that lost 2-0 against ATK Mohun Bagan. Yaya Banaya replaced Parag Shrivas in the backline, whilst to maintain overseas count, Danish Farooq came in for Prince Ibara. Besides that, Ashqiue Kuriniyan was replaced by Namgyal Bhutia.

The initial exchanges of the game saw both teams failing to show quality in the final third. The first chance fell to East Bengal in the 14th minute when Antonio Perosevic went for glory from a freekick, but Bengaluru custodian Lara Sharma was alert to avert the danger.

While this cannot be considered as a squandered opportunity with the angle being too acute, what happened eight minutes later might have angered quite a few Red and Golds loyalists. Subha Ghosh dispossessed Ajay Chhetri in a crucial area before setting Perosevic free. The Croatian had only Lara to beat but failed to do so, as the young goalkeeper came up with a stunning save to maintain equilibrium in the match.

Perosevic’s guilt might have been doubled a couple of minutes later when Bengaluru broke the deadlock from what effectively was their first major chance of the match. After receiving a long ball played from the deep by Banana, Chhetri did well to beat Tamang before pulling the trigger. While East Bengal goalkeeper Suvam did get a hand to Chhetri’s effort, it was not enough to prevent it from going into the back of the net.

Pezzaiouli’s men could have doubled their lead only six minutes later when Cleiton Silva played out a pass on the right flank for Udanta Singh. Like his captain, Udanta did well to beat his marker before launching a shot, but his effort struck the crossbar and stayed out.

Rivera’s team let another gilt-edged opportunity go begging in the 40th minute, and once again, Perosevic played the guilty party. A diagonal pass from the left flank found the Croatian completely unmarked on the right wing but he took more time to pull the trigger than he had and eventually had his shot blocked by a brilliant tackle from Roshan Naorem.

East Bengal started the second half on the front foot as well but for the umpteenth time in the season, a lack of finishing prowess haunted them. In the 58th minute, Marcelo Ribeiro’s pass found Naorem Mahesh on the left flank who did well to breeze past a couple of defenders before taking a shot, but Lara came to the Blues’ rescue yet again.

Six minutes later, Marcelo himself found himself in a good position inside the box. He initially did well to make room for a shot by outsmarting Alan Costa, but then undid his clever play by dragging his shot wide of the goal.

Opportunities kept on coming as the Gil Vicente loanee had another good chance in the 70th minute. Songpu Sangsit found him inside the box with a commendable pass, but for the second time on the night, Ribeiro dragged his shot wide from a good angle.

Suvam Sen made a few sensational saves for East Bengal

It was then the Blues’ turn to miss chances, as Chhetri failed to utilize the opportunity of scoring his second goal in the 79th minute. Siva Narayanan’s pass from the right flank found the veteran striker inside the box and though the latter’s shot was both venomous and on target, Suvam came up with a fantastic save to keep the scoreline at 1-0.

The last major chance of the match came in Bengaluru’s way as well, when a through ball was played out from the deep in the 84th minute. Tamang did well to intercept it but his clearance attempt went horrendously wrong as he failed to get a proper connection on the goal, leaving Chhetri with a goal gaping with only Suvam to beat. However, the custodian denied the opposition’s skipper his fourth goal of the season by making another sensational save, while Tamang also redeemed himself by ensuring that he cleared the rebound before Narayanan came to the scene.

With this win, Bengaluru has ended their campaign in the sixth position on the standings, having accumulated 29 points from 20 matches. East Bengal fans will not be looking forward to reminiscing their 2021-22 campaign in the future, as they finished at the very bottom with only 11 points to their name from 20 matches.