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East Bengal got back to winning ways in the I-League with a 2-0 win away at Indian Arrows to consolidate their position at the top of the table. First-half goals from two of their foreign imports were enough for East Bengal to emerge victorious even though the Arrows improved as the match went on.
The young Arrows were unable to repeat what they did a few days ago versus Mohun Bagan and ultimately paid the price for some sloppiness early in the game.
Here's what stood out from the match.
Rookie errors give East Bengal the advantage
The Arrows remained resolute against Mohun Bagan in their previous game even in the face of being a man down, but today they allowed East Bengal a foothold early with some callous errors.
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In the 12th minute, Abhishek Haldar needlessly fouled Katsumi Yusa just outside his box, out wide on the right. It was a bad foul to concede as Yusa was going nowhere with the ball. That presented the table-toppers a great chance - Mahmoud Al Amnah stepped up and went direct from the free-kick off a tight angle to give East Bengal the lead. On top of Haldar's foul, keeper Sukhan Gill was also guilty of not covering his near post and getting beaten on that side.
That early goal handed East Bengal the lead and they went on to take control of the match. Gill was also a little culpable for the second and with Dheeraj Singh's decision to go to Europe, that goalkeeping position is going to come under scrutiny.
Arrows find their range in the second
After an underwhelming first half, the young Arrows managed to find their game in the second half. They restricted East Bengal, clamping down the spaces that they had afforded their opponents in the first half.
In the attacking third too they got better, as they managed to string some good moves going forward, staying true to their philosophy of short passing. Norton de Matos was clearly upset with his side's showing in the first half and it looked like he had gotten the message across during half-time.
Proof of their improvement was East Bengal coach Jamil's disposition on the touchlines. He was constantly egging his side on to stay focused because he knew that the Arrows were capable of punishing any slip-ups.
Joby in the lineup
While the Arrows are understandably a talent pool for the future as far as Indian youngsters are concerned, East Bengal gave an opportunity to a youngster of their own today.
Thiruvananthapuram lad Joby Justin was handed a start in the striker position with the absence of Willis Plaza due to injury. Charles de Souza was available, but Khalid Jamil chose to give Justin the start and keep De Souza on the bench.
The 24-year-old Justin was a huge part of a successful KSEB team in the Kerala Premier League which they went on to win. While individually on the ball, he struggled a bit, his off-the-ball runs actually gave the East Bengal attack a different look.
It facilitated the likes of Yusa and Al Amnah to get forward more and into dangerous positions as Justin managed to grab the attention of the defence with his runs.
Jitendra and Anwar remain strong
We saw the Arrows mount a brave rearguard effort against Bagan to come away from that fixture with a point. The key in that result was the defensive pairing of Jitendra Singh and Anwar Ali in the middle.
Today too, the duo impressed. Especially when it came to crosses into the box, Ali and Singh were the first to most of the balls sent in by East Bengal. Unfortunately for the young guns, they fell behind by two goals very early, making it tough for them to come back. The fact that they managed to prevent any more goals after that was telling of their prowess at the back as Ali and Singh continue to grow into a very reliable defensive pairing.
Yusa leads the charts now
Yusa had a hand in East Bengal's first goal as it was he who was fouled for the free-kick. The second though was just a brilliant effort from the Japanese that had quality written all over it.
Just five minutes after opening the scoring, East Bengal doubled their advantage in the 17th minute when Yusa, after receiving the ball in the box from the right, spotted keeper Gill off his line a little and just delicately curled a superb effort into the keeper's top left corner. It was a sweet strike from the midfielder who made the switch from Bagan to East Bengal this off-season.
Bagan coach Sanjoy Sen had said that their decision to not retain him was performance-based, but Yusa seems to be finding his feet again. He scored in their previous game against Neroca FC too and now has five goals to his name and is the leading goalscorer in this season's I-League.
