Aizawl : Ranti Martins struck a hat-trick as East Bengal made a late rally from a two-goal deficit to beat a 10-man Aizawl FC 3-2 in an I-League football match here on Saturday.
Brandon Valpuia (19th minute) and Yuta Kinowaki (58th) scored for the home side before Ranti Martins struck in the 69th, 85th and 88th minutes to secure all three points for East Bengal here.
Aizawl were done in by a direct red card shown on their key defender Emmanuel Chigozie in the 67th minute, and East Bengal, trailing 0-2 then, grabbed with both their hands the numerical advantage and pumped in three goals through Ranti to win the match.
East Bengal started the match by testing Aizawl goalkeeper Soram Poirei with two shots at goal within the first two minutes. There were a lot of half chances created by both teams in the opening few minutes but no considerable damage was done.
Egged on by the partisan crowd, Aizawl began to dominate the match and they were the far better side in the first half.
Valpuia broke the deadlock in the 19th minute using an assist from Japanese midfielder Yuta Kinowaki who sent a curling ball in from the right. Alfred Jaryan went past his marker to feed the ball towards winger Valpuia who did no mistake beating East Bengal ‘keeper Luis Barreto with a right footer from the left corner of the box.
A minute short of the break, Brandon had an opportunity to double the lead for Aizawl but Barreto came calling with an important save.
Aizawl FC scored their second goal two minutes from the hour mark. Lalram Chullova released Yuta Kinowaki inside the six yard box as Bernard Mendy failed to get onto the end of the ball. Kinowaki lobbed the ball past a hapless Barreto.
With a 2-0 lead, it looked like a huge upset win was on the cards in the small hill station town but the match turned on its head in a dramatic fashion after Aizawl’s Nigerian defender Emmanuel Chigozie was shown a direct red in the 67th minute for bringing down compatriot Ranti in a rather harsh tackle inside the box.
The ensuing spot-kick was converted by Ranti as he sent Poirei the wrong way, depositing the ball into the right corner of the net.
East Bengal took the advantage of numerical superiority to the hilt. Calvin Lobo, who replaced Mehtab Hossain in the first half, and Harmanjot Khabra appeared more confident in creating chances for their team-mates upfront as the visitors had found a new purpose.
Five minutes from regulation time, Ranti restored parity. Bikash Jairu’s darting run from the left followed a pin point cross into the box where Ranti guided the ball into the net with a powerful header. Two minutes later, East Bengal found the winner through Ranti yet again from a Mohammed Rafique assist. Right on the 90 minute mark, Aizawl’s Lalram Chullova was given marching orders for a second booking, compiling on the agony of the home side who were reduced to nine men. With this triple strike, Ranti went atop the scoring charts with 11 goals.
East Bengal now have 20 points from 11 matches, two points adrift of leaders and arch rivals Mohun Bagan as well as Bengaluru FC.
Salgaocar beat Shillong Lajong 1-0
Vasco : Salgaocar held on to their first half strike by Gilbert Olivera to beat Shillong Lajong 1-0 and came out of the relegation in the Hero I-League here on Saturday.
With this victory, Salgaocar have now moved up to sixth position in the points table.
The solitary goal of the match by Olivera, whose pile driver from top of the box beat leaping goalkeeper Vishal Keith to find the roof of the net, earned him the man of the match award.
Salgaocar, who are unbeaten in the last three matches, took their points tally to 12 points, the same as Mumbai FC, but are behind them on account of head on count. Shillong Lajong, who suffered their second successive loss, are behind Salgaocar with 11 points from 11 matches.
Both the teams played attacking game throughout the match. Although the visitors enjoyed a slight edge, especially in the second half, and also managed to move the ball deep down into the Salgaocar half, they lacked ideas once they reached near the box and their moves fizzled out with Eder Monteiro playing the sheet anchor role in the defence.
Lajong had the first chance to take the lead in the early part of the match but Penn Orje directed his shot off the target. On the other hand, Salgaocar took the lead after a couple of close chances, scoring in the 31st minute.
Following a corner by Brian Mascarnehas that saw defender Konsham heading the ball away, Olivera, who was on top of the box, send a pile driver beating the rival keeper to lead 1-0 at half time. Shillong Lajong coach made second change soon after the break, bringing in Boithang Haokip in place of Konsham Chinglensana Singh to give more thrust in the attack. But Salgaocar defence did well to counter their moves.
The visitors had a couple of close chances but they failed to direct the ball on target. Salgaocar came with a few counter moves and had a good chance to increase their lead but Brian Mascarnehas failed to direct his shot on target when well placed inside the box off Cavin pass.
