Holders East Bengal began their campaign with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Hindustan Aeronautics, Bangalore, while National League champions Dempo, Goa, crashed out of the tournament after being held to a 1-1 draw by Air India, Mumbai, in the quarter-final league matches of the 118th Durand Cup football tournament at the Ambedkar stadium in Delhi on Sunday.
It was heartbreak for Dempo as they lost on the toss of the coin to decide the group winner, against Army XI, Bangalore, after all the three matches played earlier failed to produce any result.
In a Group D encounter, the star-studded Kolkata side, which led 2-0 at half-time, were put into the lead by R C Prakash in the eighth minute through a header off a Jatin Bisht cross from the right flank.
Bisht scored the second goal for the ten-time champions in the 22nd minute, this time also through a header, connecting a pass from Soumik Dey, who was fed by Sydney Nkalanga, the ball hitting the right top corner of the net.
The Bagalore side, which were beaten by JCT, Phagawra (0-4), on December 9, tried to comeback into the match in the second half and their frontline trio of Rajendra Prasad, Nanda Kumar and Kenneth Onu made some good runs inside the East Bengal box, but failed to create clear openings.
HAL's Prasad and D Raju muffed two half chances in the 57th and 73rd minutes respectively with the efforts failing to find target. In the 66th minute, a Zenith aerial pass saw Onu clear the rival defenders and only goalkeeper Naseem Akhtar to beat.
But, the HAL striker's right-footer was blocked by the outstretched feet of Akhtar and the deflected ball was cleared by an East Bengal defender.
The Kolkata giants now have to beat JCT on December 13 to move into the semi-finals. A draw will put the Phagwara team into the semis on better goal difference. Both teams have now three points to their credit.
But the team has only itself to blame for the debacle. Dempo were leading 1-0 at half time after Agnelo Martins put them ahead in the 12th minute. But the Goa team, which desperately needed to win the match, squandered their advantage in the 64th minute when Benoy Kuruvilla produced the equaliser for Air India.
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