East Bengal FC held to a stalemate by resilient Bangladesh Army FT in Durand Cup 2023

A late resurgence from Bangladesh Army FT undid a half of East Bengal FC's resilient display as both sides settled for a 2-2 draw at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on Sunday.

While Saul Crespo and Javier Siverio tucked in the first-half goals for the Torchbearers, Sahariar Emon and Meraj Pradhan humbled the favorites late in the second half.

The Red and Gold Brigade started with a formidable squad, including the likes of Harmanjot Singh Khabra, Nishu Kumar, Naorem Mahesh Singh, and Prabhsukhan Singh Gill. Meanwhile, among the foreign contingents, Javier Siverio and Saul Crespo were the only starters, while Borja Herrera and Jordan Elsey featured on the bench.

East Bengal started the match, expectedly on the front foot, with some cautious build-up play initially. A gilt-edge opportunity presented itself the hosts' way in the fifth minute when Mahesh delivered a pin-point cross inside the box. Although Siverio reacted the quickest to turn the ball into the net, the referee deemed it as a handball from the attacker and dished out a booking.

However, the Bangladesh outfit should considerable improvement from their first outing, where they were hammered 5-0. They relied on defensive solidity to neutralize East Bengal's attacking threat and did it with great success initially.

In the 23rd minute, Carles Cuadrat's men had another opportunity to break the deadlock when Nandhakumar Sekar was played through on goal by Siverio, but the chance fizzled out as he couldn't get the ball from under his feet. But the Bangladesh Army's resilience was undone when Kamrul Islam brought down opposition full-back Nishu Kumar in their box.

The referee pointed to the spot immediately and Saul Crespo calmly tucked it home giving the home side the lead. The goal invigorated East Bengal and they carved open a few consecutive chances.

At first, Guite Peka was sent through on goal by Siverio, but veteran shot-stopper Ashraful Rana parried it away. The resulting corner gave the Spanish striker an opportunity to have another crack at the cherry, but his effort raced skywards.

But before the half-time whistle, the Red and Gold Brigade doubled their lead when Harmanjot Singh Khabra delivered a curling cross to find Siverio, who was East Bengal's most potent attacking outlet, and the Spaniard didn't disappoint.

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Nishu Kumar's red card changed the fortunes of both East Bengal and Bangladesh Army FT

After the break, the intensity was trimmed down slightly initially but East Bengal soon started altering the tempo once the opportunities arose. Siverio and Nishu had two half chances but couldn't capitalize on them.

Cuadrat decided to slightly reshuffle the pack with a triple substitution in the 62nd minute, with Mobashir Rahman, Borja, and Suhair VP coming on in place of Guite, Saul, and Siverio.

But the Torchbearers were dealt with a massive blow when Nishu Kumar received a straight red in the 67th minute for an off-the-ball challenge. The former Kerala Blasters man will now miss out on the all-important Kolkata derby. Down to 10-man, Khabra, who had been operating expertly in the defensive midfield role, had to slot into the right-back role.

The Kolkata giants opted for another change minutes later, with Gunraj Singh coming on for Nandhakumar, who was largely underwhelming on his debut.

As the match entered the final 10 minutes, East Bengal were more than happy to defend their lead. To further strengthen their defense, new signing Jordan Elsey was called into action off the bench in place of Gursimrat Gill. But the Australian international's presence rather unsettled East Bengal's defense and Sahariar Emon scored against the run of play with a clinical strike from an acute angle.

With the scoreline locked at 2-1 and another six minutes of injury time added on, Bangladesh Army had all the impetus in the world to push ahead. And they did.

An absolute suicidal pass from Harmanjot Singh Khabra in his own half in the seventh minute of additional time, allowed Sahariar to get into the box before setting up Mamun Mollah. The latter's attempted effort was parried away by Prabhsukhan Gill, but despite the East Bengal shot-stopper's best efforts, Meraj Pradhan managed to bundle the ball over the line.

As the final whistle followed soon after, the Bangladesh Army bench ran onto the pitch with Bangladesh national flag, celebrating what could definitely be tagged as an unexpected result in all regards. For East Bengal and Carles Cuadrat, this would dampen their mood right ahead of the highly-anticipated Kolkata derby.