Chennaiyin FC vs SC East Bengal: Who won yesterday's match?

A lackluster Chennaiyin FC side failed to take advantage of an extra man as they settled for a 0-0 draw with SC East Bengal in the 63rd match of the 2020-21 Indian Super League (ISL) Season at the GMC Bambolim Stadium in Goa.

Enes Sipovic’s miss in the early minutes of the match proved costly for Chennaiyin FC as both sides failed to create too many openings in the rest of the game.

SC East Bengal's star player Bright Enobakhare was heavily marked for most of the game and the Nigerian was brought down a few times by Chennaiyin. Possibly a a result, SC East Bengal couldn’t trouble Chennaiyin FC’s defense in the early part of the match.

At the other end, Chennaiyin FC got a fantastic chance to go ahead in the 23rd minute but Enes Sipovic couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net. Anirudh Thapa delivered a nice pass to Eli Sabia from a free-kick on the left flank but the ball drifted away due to a poor touch. Sabia ran to the ball and put in a cross to the far post but Sipovic failed to keep his header on target.

SC East Bengal also began to struggle with their own high back-line as Chennaiyin FC started to test them with long balls. One such instance almost saw Esmael Goncalves through on goal but Debjit Majumder came rushing out to clear it. A few minutes later, another long ball from Eli Sabia saw Debjit lose his footing. However, luckily his poor touch saw the ball run away for a throw-in.

The game got even tougher for SC East Bengal when Ajay Chhetri was sent off after being booked for the second time. While there was some room for doubt with the first yellow card, Ajay didn’t help himself with a rash tackle on Rahim Ali later.

With just a couple of minutes to go in the first half, Chennaiyin FC were denied by some good work by Debjit Majumder and Narayan Das. Anirudh Thapa got to the end of a pass from Jerry Lalrinzuala but Debjit came out of his line to block the midfielder. He tried to eke out a pass to the far post but Narayan Das was quick enough to clear it before Rahim Ali got to the ball.

In the early minutes of the second-half, SC East Bengal came close through their skipper Anthony Pilkington. Surchandra Singh whipped in a decent low cross but Eli Sabia and Enes Sipovic failed to clear it properly. With Vishal Kaith also on the ground after a failed attempt at catching the ball, Pilkington only managed to hit the side netting.

The influential Pilkington was in the mix once again as a free-kick from Scott Neville got him behind the opposition’s back-line. However, Vishal Kaith made himself big to make a fine save. Defender Scott Neville also got a chance from a Narayan Das corner-kick but he couldn’t connect with his header.

Thereafter, it was all Chennaiyin FC but SC East Bengal custodian Debjit Majumder denied the likes of Lallianzuala Chhangte and Fatkhullo Fatkhulloev with some fine saves. Forwards Jakub Sylvestr and Rahim Ali were also guilty of not testing Debjit enough when decent chances propped up for them. In the end, both sides had to settle for a point.

ISL 2020-21, CFC vs SCEB: Who was the Hero of the Match?

Debjit Majumder's confidence only grew as the game progressed. Courtesy: ISL

Goal-keeper Debjit Majumder was named as the ‘Hero of the Match’ for his excellent work between the sticks for ten-man SC East Bengal. The experienced custodian looked a bit jittery during the early minutes of the game but he improved as the game progressed to get SC East Bengal the point.

The 32-year-old made six saves and also came up with one crucial clearance. His performance also took him to the top of the table in terms of most saves in the league.