A brilliant goal by Renedy Singh enabled JCT, Phagwara, shock fancied East Bengal 2-1 in the last quarter-final league match in the Durand Cup football tournament at the Ambedkar stadium in Delhi on Tuesday.
The defeat put the Kolkata giants out of the tournament.
JCT, who topped Group D, will meet Army XI in the second semi-final on December 15.
Needing a victory win to snatch a semi-final berth, and trailing 0-1 at the breather after Parveen Kumar put JCT ahead in the 33rd minute, firing home from a Renedy long pass, a rejuvenated East Bengal set the pace in the second half. They were rewarded when Mike Okoro restored parity in the 57th minute.
A Chandan Das pass, from the left top edge of the box, was chested down by Liswa Nouti for Okoro to boot home.
But the flicker of hope for the depleted East Bengal side, who have four of their players doing national duty in the South Asian Football Federation tournament in Karachi, was doused by Renedy's powerful 35-yard shot from the left.
After the shocker, the 16-time champions made desperate attempts for the equalizer but without success.
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