Calcutta Football League 2018: East Bengal vs Pathachakra, 5 Talking Points

The 120th edition of the Calcutta Football League Division 'A' continued in full flow as 39-time champions East Bengal faced off against Pathachakra in what could be labelled as a 'lop-sided' contest as the multi-time champions found the back of the net three times in the game to dominate proceedings at the East Bengal Ground.

The defending champions walked into the game with a slight shift in momentum as they were held to a draw against Calcutta Customs in their previous game after an opening game victory against West Bengal while on the contrary, Pathachakra had done well to secure an important 2-0 win against Tollygunge Agragami in the previous encounter which followed a 1-0 loss to Mohun Bagan.

The Red and Golds claimed their second victory of the season after they emerged with a thumping 3-0 win over the listless Pathachakra outfit through a brace from Keralite Joby Justin, who came back from an injury and a 40th-minute goal from Laldanmawia Ralte.

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Here are all the talking points from the East Bengal v Pathachakra match

1. Attacking start from East Bengal

There was no doubt that East Bengal would start the game as favourites and for no small reason as the Red and Gold brigade were on the attack right from the first minute, orchestrated by Joby Justin's 14th-minute header, after a pinpoint cross from Lalramchullova.

The power through midfield with the presence of two foreigners in the form of Mahmoud Amnah and Kassim Aidara played to the strengths of East Bengal as the duo combined extremely well with Joby Justin and Brandon Vanlalremdika to keep to tighten the screws on the Pathachakra defence and gain control of the game

2. Plenty of chances go begging for East Bengal in the opening half

Right throughout the game, the Pathachakra defenders were put to test by the combination of East Bengal's midfield and attack which hunted in a pack. While Justin and Ralte did score, East Bengal would surely go on to rue the missed chances.

Joby Justin's header flew right into the grasp of Pathachakra's keeper Arindam while Laldanmawia's attempts flew wide of the goal on more than just the one occasion. On another occasion, Justin's connection to an exquisite cross from an Al-Amna cross could not find the back of the net before Lalramchullova's close-range shot missed the target by quite a distance.

3. Joby Justin stamps his authority on return from injury

Kerala-based forward Joby Justin did not feature in the previous games for East Bengal but was back in his element against Pathachakra as the talented forward scored a goal in both halves including one to break the deadlock as early as in the 14th minute of the game.

Coming back from injury, the forward did have a small scare in the early stages of the first half as he was down on the ground for a few minutes but soon recovered to head the ball into the goal and piled the pressure on Pathachakra before completing a brace with a delicate tap into an open net in the second half.

4. Morale-boosting penalty opportunity for East Bengal

The opening half was clearly dominated by an aggressive intent from East Bengal, who opened their account owing to a header from Joby Justin within the first twenty minutes.

Then, with less than ten minutes to go ahead of the break, Joby Justin's shot found Monotosh Chakladar's dangling hand in Pathachakra's box that gifted a penalty opportunity to East Bengal, which Laldanmawia converted with ease to help his team take the advantage going into the break.

5. Gagandeep Singh Bali heads onto the crossbar

Technical director Subhash Bhowmick made three changes for the game, which included a straight swap between forwards Gagandeep Singh Bali and Joby Justin. The move paid rich dividends as Joby scored a brace after which he was replaced by Gagandeep Singh in the 85th minute.

Bali almost scored in the very next minute after he was brought on but was denied by shot-stopper Arindam Singh and in the 93rd minute, another header from the 28-year old forward smacked the crossbar and fell back into play, which evoked a lot of mixed reactions from the crowd.