Super Cup win by Super Team : East Bengal

East Bengal clinched the Super Cup thriller as they beat Goa's Salgaocar 9-8 in a penalty shoot-out at the Ambedkar Stadium on Tuesday.
Saikat Saha Roy turned out to be the hero for East Bengal as his spot kick won the game for the Kolkata side. The defender sent the Salgaocar goalkeeper Karanjit Singh wide as East Bengal became the first team to clinch the coveted Cup for the third time.

In a tense shoot-out, the pendulum swung a great deal from one side to another. Salgaocar’s Jaspal Parmar was unlucky to have his penalty saved by East Bengal keeper Gurpreet Singh at 3-3. Then Ravinder Singh failed to win it for East Bengal as he hit in the keeper’s path to take it to sudden death.

The shoot-out went on till 8-8, and then Saha Roy stepped up and sealed the deal.

The game was entertaining as both sides had chances to win it in normal time. The match started with East Bengal taking early initiative. Defender Nirmal Chettri headed a corner from Scottish import Alan Gow, wide of the target in the fifth minute. East Bengal kept on dominating the proceedings as star player Gow took a free kick from 25 yards only to be denied by Salgaocar keeper Karanjit Singh in the 13th minute.

East Bengal continued their good show in the midfield as Robert Lalthumuana and Robin Singh displayed some clever interplay, but when it came to scoring, both came a cropper.

Salgaocar had their first chance in the 28th minute as Tomba Singh and Francis Fernandes set up a chance for Chidi Edeh, but the latter miscued his shot.

East Bengal seized the match again as brilliant midfield play between Gow and Orji choked the Goan side. However, the first half ended at 0-0.

The Kolkata club dominated the second half as well. The tempo, however, slowed down and the chances were few and far between. The match went on as tiring legs resulted in sloppy tackling and a flurry of yellow cards. Saha Roy got booked for tackling Ishfaq Ahmed from behind.

In the 83rd minute, Gow took a free kick from 30 yards but the keeper was up to the challenge as he tipped it over the cross bar. That was the closest East Bengal's best chance in the second half. Substitutions were made as the match was heading into penalties.

Gow sent one more free kick towards the goal but it hit the wall and went to Sanju Pradhan who could only manage to find the side-netting. Salgaocar then tried to steal the match at the death but Francis Fernandes failed to reach a cross from Ryuji Seoka.