East Bengal 3-3 (3-2) Mohun Bagan : Platinum Jubilee Cup 2010

14.11.2010, Calcutta: Mohun Bagan and East Bengal played out a classic to make the Platinum Jubilee Cup final a memorable affair on Sunday. The 25,000 odd spectators, who had thronged the Salt Lake Stadium, were witness to a thriller that had them at the edge of their seats. Both teams came tantalisingly close to winning the trophy, till East Bengal pipped Bagan in penalty shoot-out to clinch the match 6-5 (3-3 after regulation time).

The city giants had rested their main players and it was a test for both teams in absence of their foreign stars. But the intensity of the match and the ferocity with which the teams played will have any unwary spectator to believe that the best players turned out to fight out the final in the middle.

Mohun Bagan controlled the ball for most part of the first half, but Alvito D’Cunha gave East Bengal the lead one minute into stoppage time. The East Bengal striker, who hasn’t played a single Calcutta Football League match this season, warmed up with a deft left-foot finish. Robin Singh formed the lighthouse showing path to the midfielders and found Sanju Pradhan on the right.

The East Bengal skipper rolled it to Alvito inside the box for the lead. Bagan’s Gauranga Dutta, who made some telling bursts into the East Bengal defence, curled in a measured cross in the second half for Satish Kumar to score the equaliser. Both teams produced some quick counterattacks till Bagan took the lead in the 67th minute. Gauranga’s corner found Ashim Biswas unmarked and the striker headed in the second goal for his side. Robin’s header brought parity back nine minutes later and both teams finished 2-2 at full time.

Robin broke the deadlock in extra time. Snehasish Chakraborty tried to clear the ball, but sent it inside own box. Robin, who was agile as a hawk, slotted a fierce right-footer into the rival net. But Harpreet Singh equalised with a tap-in.

For East Bengal, the key was replacing ’keeper Naseem Akhtar with Jayanta Paul before the tie-breaker. The youngster pulled off two brilliant saves to give his team a thrilling 6-5 victory.

Sanju Pradhan, Robin Singh and Sushant Mathew converted for East Bengal, while Ravinder Singh failed to beat Sangram Mukherjee and Biswajit Natta was off target.

For Bengal, Souvik Chakraborty and Snehasish were blunted by Paul, while Gouranga shot it wide. Only Rahul Kumar and Dipendu Dowary found the net in the penalty shoot-out.

Later on, Morgan revealed that he brought Paul in at the insistence of team’s goal-keeping coach Atanu Bhattacharjee. “He (Atanu) told me that Paul is young and agile. And that he would be a better choice in the tie-breaker,” Morgan said.

Paul captured the final moments when he said: “I told myself that I have to win it for my side. This is one chance and I’ve to make it count.” Asked if he had experienced a similar moment earlier, Paul said: “Earlier, I had helped the team win in the Subroto Cup final in 2005. This was another such moment.”

What added to the flavour of the contest was the rivals' decision to keep their foreign recruits and most of the regulars out of the match. And there young East Bengal keeper Jayanta Pal was the hero of the day. Jayanta was brought on only for the penalty shootout and he did not disappoint his coaches as he blocked shots from Souvik Chakraborty and Snehasish Chakraborty, while Gouranga Datta and East Bengal's Ravinder Singh couldn't score. In the end East Bengal 3-2 on penalties and the title.
Earlier on Friday in the semifinals of the 'Mohammedan Sporting Platinum Jubilee Cup' Mohun Bagan had beaten English non-league side Sheffield FC, while East Bengal beat the hosts Mohammedan Sporting. Both matches ended 1-0 and the goals came literary towards the end leaving the beaten sides no chance to react.

Teams

Mohun Bagan: Sangram Mukherjee, Kingshuk Debnath, Sangram Mandi (Rahul Kumar, 12), Herpreet Singh, Biswajit Saha (Dipendu Dowary, 106), Satish Kumar, Souvik Chakraborty, Santosh Oraon, Snehasish Vhakraborty, Jacken Sebastian (Gouranga Dutta, 52), Ashim Biswas.

East Bengal: Naseem Akhtar (Jayanta Paul, 117), Saikat Saha Roy, Gurwinder Singh, Sunil Kumar, Ravinder Singh, Sanju Pradhan, Sushanth Mathew, Alvito D’Kunha, K Aseem (Biswajit Natta, 59), Budiram Tudu (Bikash Narjinary), Robin Singh.

Referee: Barun Saha

Man of the match: Robin Singh

Man of the tournament: Ashim Biswas

Here are the match videos :

 

Source : http://www.telegraphindia.com/1101115/jsp/sports/story_13178100.jsp