East Bengal rallied from a goal deficit to defeat leaders Dempo 2-1 and move up to third position in the I-League table after the conclusion of the ninth round encounter at Salt Lake Stadium on Thursday.
Both the teams started off with caution, but the Goan heavyweights took an 11th minute lead through an easy Clifford Miranda strike.
But the red-and-gold brigade stepped up the gas striking through Penn Orji and Tolgay Ozbey in a space of 10 minutes to bounce back in style.
In a head to head finish, Nigerian midfielder Penn after receiving the ball from the Australian forward Ozbey brought East Bengal back into the game with a 31st minute equaliser.
With the duo showing excellent co-ordination, East Bengal went ahead in the 41st minute when Ozbey received a spectacular pass from Penn before finishing with a clinical shot.
East Bengal held their 2-1 lead and dominated the second-half without giving any chance for the Armando Colaco's boys as the leaders dropped points.
With 19 points, East Bengal are now three points behind leaders Dempo who had a slender one-point lead over Goan rivals Churchill Brothers.
Man-of-the-match Mehtab Hussain was at his best and played the role of a feeder to perfection as Dempo's trump card Ranty Martins paled in comparison.
The home team almost had a third minute lead from a Reisangmi Vashum centre but Semilen Doungel could not connect the header to miss an open net early into the start.
Dempo too attacked from the left and their forward Koko Sakibo almost fired in the goal but East Bengal's Uga Okpara cleared the ball.
The Goans took the lead in the very next move when Sakibo's back pass from left flank was brilliantly utilised by Godwin Franco who set it up for Miranda for an easy goal.
Trailing 0-1, East Bengal were at their attacking best with Hussain setting up moves and it was just a matter of time for them to equalise.
Ozbey and Penn exchanged fine headers before the latter found the back of the net as Dempo defence failed to clear it.
Dempo back four found themselves all at sea when a defence splitting through pass by Penn had Ozbey up front as the Aussie forward fired in an open goal without any problems.
East Bengal missed a couple of chances in the second-half but they maintained the dominance to earn full points.
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