Kolkata: East Bengal FC defeated Hyderabad FC by 2-0 at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan Stadium in the Indian Super League (ISL) match here.
The Red and Gold Brigade have thus won thrice in a row for the first time in the ISL on Wednesday night.
Their two late goals came off the only couple of chances they took on target, despite holding only 46.5% of possession and completing 76% of their passes in this game. East Bengal FC are now at the eighth spot with 27 points from 22 games.
They absorbed pressure for a major chunk of the opening 10 minutes, before Nishu Kumar enabled the home side to break free with a fast counter-attack, laying a well-weighted pass for Raphael Messi Bouli at the offensive end on the left flank.
Messi Bouli could have squared up the pass for Dimitrios Diamantakos, placed at the other end of the box, but ended up hammering the ball over the top left corner as his shot could not land on target, bringing about a hurried end to a promising attacking endeavour.
Hyderabad FC retaliated through Ayush Adhikari’s impeccable vision for a decisive pass in the 20th minute, as he breached the entire East Bengal FC backline with an aerial ball that landed at the feet of Edmilson Correia on the right side of the 18-yard box.
Correia marched ahead but was compelled by Anwar Ali into a difficult, narrow angle, from where the final shot lacked precision and was kept at bay by Prabhsukhan Singh Gill.
The lack of communication between Messi Bouli and Diamantakos was evident again in the 54th minute, when Gill launched a powerful and precise long ball for the former on the right flank that caught the Hyderabad FC defence off-guard.
The East Bengal FC attacking duo moved in tandem inside the away side’s defence but Messi Bouli still didn’t square up a pass for the Greek forward and instead opted to go solo, striking the woodwork on the left flank, though an unmarked Diamantakos could have had a better chance of nestling a goal.
Richard Celis showed great vigour in recovering possession from the centre of the park before sparking a quick burst of pace to land inside the Hyderabad FC box at the hour mark.
Celis found Naorem Mahesh Singh in the middle of the 18-yard area, but the latter was unable to sort his feet properly and ended up shooting the ball off target past the left post despite having ample space and time to take a composed shot at goal.
There were two key highlights of the game right until the end, i.e. individual lapses by the Hyderabad FC backline and Messi Bouli’s industrious efforts to break the deadlock.
Both aspects came to the fore in the concluding 10 minutes, starting off with Manoj Mohammed’s own goal following a corner by East Bengal FC in the 86th minute, as the away team’s backline wore a disoriented look courtesy of East Bengal FC piling up numbers forward and complementing that with some brilliance upfront by their dynamic forwards.
Manoj’s hasty attempt at keeping the ball away from the danger zone backfired, before Saul Crespo and Messi Bouli joined hands to land the second goal in the added time of the second half.
The Red and Gold Brigade hit Hyderabad FC on an immediate counter-attack and Crespo was quick to spot and serve the attacker a pass at the centre of the Hyderabad FC box.
Messi Bouli picked the ball with a deft touch and slotted into the bottom left corner to double the lead and take three points to their tally.
East Bengal FC are set to play Bengaluru FC on March 2, whereas Hyderabad FC will feature against Punjab FC on March 6.
