Kolkata: Giant-killers Prayag United scored an injury-time goal to register a dramatic 1-0 win over East Bengal in their return leg I-League fixture at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan on Tuesday.
Kayne Vincent cashed in on a rare counter in the third minute of stoppage time, helping his team to climb to third spot in the league standings.
East Bengal goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh committed harakiri when he decided to join his teammates in the attack when they got a flag-kick, which effectively was the last move of the match.
In their desperate bid to score the elusive goal, East Bengal left their defence unmanned. United stopper Justin made a clearance and Vincent latched on to it as he made a sprint towards the opponent goal. East Bengal fullback Saumik Dey made a last-ditch attempt to avert the danger but the New Zealand forward coolly slotted the ball into the rival net, much to the despair of the partisan crowd.
Coach Trevor Morgan defended Gurpreet for the blunder, saying he had instructed the goalkeeper to run into the attack, but blamed his defenders for the folly.
Having lost three points at home, it was a disaster of sorts for last year's runners-up's title aspirations as they remained three points behind leaders Dempo (37), who next play Mumbai FC in their Round 18 fixture.
The setback for the Kolkata giants came four days ahead of their return leg derby clash against Mohun Bagan.
Prayag United, meanwhile, continued their giant-killing spree, after wins over Dempo and Mohun Bagan, as they shot themselves to third place with 32 points.
United coach Sanjoy Sen described this as their best win of the season.
East Bengal supporters went berserk after the win as they protested outside the stadium, not allowing the players to leave the venue, and the police had to resort to mild lathicharge to get things under control.
Up against a depleted United, who were playing without their ace Ghanaian striker Yusif Yakubu, East Bengal started out aggressively, with Tolgay Ozbey trying to make repeated inroads into the rival defence.
But United responded to the challenge with some dogged defending, aided by a fine effort from custodian Abhijit Mondal for the better part of 90 minutes.
East Bengal's best chance came in the 30th minute, when Sanju Pradhan turned provider for Reisangmi Vashum, who in turn kept a neat centre for Khantang Paite, who headed it for Ozbey. The Aussie striker's powerful nod was saved by Mondal though.
After the change of ends, Morgan changed his team's formation, introducing Robin Singh and Edmilson Pardel along with Ozbey. However, the three-pronged forward line failed to produce the desired result.
Comments
0 comment