Jamshedpur FC vs East Bengal: Stephen Constantine's team pile on the Red Miners' misery in ISL 2022-23

With some glittering counter-attacks, a lot of resiliency, and a scintillating display from Naorem Mahesh Singh, East Bengal (EB) trumped home side Jamshedpur FC (JFC) at the JRD Tata Sports Complex on Sunday, November 27.

Both EB and JFC came into the encounter on the back of losses against Odisha FC and Chennaiyin FC, respectively, and were hoping to grab three points and crawl out of the bottom half.

The Red and Gold Brigade showed their hunger right from the opening exchanges and were almost immediately rewarded for it. Within 93 seconds, Stephen Constantine's team broke the deadlock.

The star of the night, Mahesh Singh, whips in a delicious cross from the left. VP Suhair, evading his marker at the far post, thumped the ball into the back of the net with an acrobatic header.

Away supporters were left elated and Aidy Boothroyd's team left stunned. But East Bengal continued their charge despite getting the lead. In the 13th minute, Cleiton Silva stabbed a Jordan O'Doherty cross into the back of the net. However, the referee ruled out the goal as Suhair was in an offside position during the build-up.

However, in the 26th minute, Jamshedpur's luck ran out as the Torchbearers doubled their lead through their Brazilian talisman. Mahesh Singh, yet again, made a darting run down the left flank and delivered a peach of a cross. Cleiton timed his run perfectly and tapped it into the net past the keeper. A clinical goal, synonymous with any Constantine side.

Later in the half, the Red Miners were presented with an opportunity to get back into the game when the referee awarded a penalty for Lalchungnunga's challenge on Harry Sawyer inside the EB box. The young centre-back was lucky as he was already on a yellow but the referee, probably due to a mix-up, ended up booking Suhair. Jay Emmanuel-Thomas stepped up to take the penalty and steered it into the bottom right corner.

Going into the half-time break, the late goal had given some respite and some hope to the struggling Jamshedpur side.

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East Bengal's Naorem Mahesh Singh completes a hattrick of assists in the second half against Jamshedpur FC

After the break, the home side were eager to restore parity promptly. In the 57th minute, Jamshedpur caught East Bengal on the break via Jay Emmanuel-Thomas. The Arsenal academy graduate shrugged off multiple opposition defenders before playing Daniel Chukwu down the left flank. The Nigerian forward delivered a far-post cross but Jay headed it straight to the keeper.

East Bengal responded with a counter-attack of theirs immediately and didn't miss. Mahesh Singh, eyeing his hat-trick of assists for the night, played a perfect through-ball into the box, which was bundled home by the ever-reliant Cleiton Silva. With the goal, the Brazilian marksman became the top-scorer in the league with five goals.

More importantly, Constantine and Co. were cruising with a 3-1 lead. The nightmares from the collapse in the previous clash against Odisha FC might have flashed before Constantine's eyes, but his men were too determined to let the lead slip.

Boothroyd brought on multiple substitutes, including super-sub Ishan Pandita, to alter the scoreline in their favor but the East Bengal defenders and midfielders showed great maturity to see out the tie.

The three points take the Torchbearers to eighth in the league standings, three points away from the top six.

Meanwhile, the misery just deepens for JFC and Boothroyd. They are still down in the 10th place with four points from seven games. Despite their poor form, a victory against last season's Shield winners will give East Bengal a massive boost ahead of their next set of fixtures.