Defending champions East Bengal scripted their first victory in the National Football League, beating Churchill Brothers 2-1 in a keenly-contested match in Kolkata on Tuesday.
Ending his long goal-drought, ace striker Baichung Bhutia scored the winner in the last minute after new Brazil recruit Cristiano Junior drew level from a penalty just before the breather to bring home full points amid cheers of the home crowd at the Salt Lake stadium.
East Bengal now have five points from four matches while Churchill remain on seven points from four outings.
East Bengal suffered an early jolt when Churchill's Nigerian striker Yusif Yakubu, the highest scorer in the last edition of the league, scored from a Hardeep Sangha pass in the third minute.
Junior, playing alongside Mike Okoro upfront, made a number of failed bids at the rival goal but finally bagged a penalty after his header off a Subhas Chakraborty centre was handled by defender Osumanu Husseni. Referee S M Balu pointed to the dreaded spot, and Junior made no mistake, scoring his first goal on Indian soil.
Desperate to register a victory in their first home match, the hosts upped the ante post the breather but failed to break the deadlock till the last minute, thanks to a series of misses by
Okoro and Junior and a bit of ill luck that saw an Alvito D'Cunha side volley hit the cross-piece in the 55th minute.
It was then the turn of Bhutia, who was put in the mid-field by coach Subhas Bhowmick, to come to the rescue of his side. He struck his first goal in the league through a diving header off a low cross from Suley Musah.
East Bengal had earlier suffered a 1-2 loss against Salgaocar in the lung opener before being held by Vasco Sports Club and JCT.
Churchill had registered a draw against Tollygunge Agragami in the first match and won the next two ties against Indian Bank and Haywards Sporting.
East Bengal, who scored only two goals in the last three matches, could have won by a bigger margin today but for the misses, committed particularly by the strikers.
In the 29th minute, an Okoro pass inside the rival box gave enough space for Junior to strike it rich, but his volley went wide.
Three minutes later, Debjit headed down a Sur Kumar center from right for an advancing Musah, whose shot from close got deflected off a rival defender and was saved for a corner.
Okoro, who looked a pale shadow of his past form, failed to reach for Bhutia's pass near rival goalmouth and missed the chance by a whisker in the 47th minute.
In the 80th minute, Musah fired a 35-yard right footer but Churchill custodian Mark Mascarenhas fisted the ball out.
The visitors had a golden chance in the 48th minute, when Yakubu essayed a brilliant through for Tiken Singh, whose sharp grounder beat East Bengal goalkeeper Sandip Nandy hands down but the woodwork came in the way.
East Bengal coach Bhowmick expressed satisfaction on posting their first victory of the tournament, but resented the lack of thrust and precision of his strike force.
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