A Chidi Edeh strike against the run of play was enough for Goa's Dempo Sports Club to claim their maiden Super Cup title as they beat Kolkata's East Bengal by a solitary goal in Gurgaon on Wednesday.
Dempo, thus, ended their memorable season by adding the Super Cup to the inaugural I-League title they secured a few days ago.
The Goan outfit also exorcised the memories of last year when they lost a similar encounter 0-4 to Mohun Bagan. They had also gone down to Sporting Clube-de-Goa in 2005.
Federation Cup champions East Bengal had only themselves to blame as they missed several goalscoring chances.
Nigerian Chidi Edeh punished their profligacy by scoring the all important goal in the 71st minute.
East Bengal did most of the attacking in the first half and missed three good opportunities during the opening 45 minutes.
The industrious Syed Rahim Nabi set up Brazilian Edmilson Marques in the eighth minute, but the shot went wide of Dempo keeper Abhijit Mondal's post with the custodian sprawling on the ground.
The mid-field trio of Alvito D'Cunha, Mehtab Hussain and Mehrajuddin Wadoo fed the upfront well and kept the Dempo defence under pressure.
East Bengal came close to scoring again in the 20th minute but Alvito's shot from the edge of the box was palmed away by the keeper.
Dempo's best chance of the first half came in the 37th minute when Brazilian Roberto Mendes Silva ran through the rival defenders but was foiled by a last ditch tackle by Anupam Sarkar just when the midfielder was about to pull the trigger.
East Bengal had another chance to surge ahead before the break when Edmilson squared the ball to Nabi on the run, but the subsequent shot was blocked by Dempo custodian.
The second half started on much the same lines with Dempo challenging East Bengal custodian Subrata Paul only sporadically.
Just after the restart, Nabi and Edmilson squandered a good chance due to a mutual misunderstanding in the rival penalty area. Dempo averted the danger at the expense of a corner.
Dempo skipper Ranti Martins shot wide at the other end and Silva's free-kick was tipped wide by Paul.
Luck also did not favour East Bengal in the 55th minute when Nabi made a pinpoint pass to Edmilson from the left flank but the subsequent shot rebounded off the post with the keeper well beaten.
All the misses came back to haunt East Bengal as Nigerian striker Chidi Edeh, who had not caught the eye thus far, demonstrated his goal-poaching skills.
A shot from distance by Silva was blocked by keeper Subrata Paul. Chidi was the quickest to react and tapped the ball home from close range past an off-balance East Bengal custodian.
The setback prompted East Bengal to go all out on attack and they created some gilt-edged chances.
Nabi headed the ball in Edmilson's path but the Brazilian's volley from inside the box was off-target.
The profligate striker wasted another opportunity when he headed an Alvito centre from the left flank into the grateful arms of keeper Abhijit Mondal.
Dempo could have scored a second goal in the dying minutes when Silva's shot from inside the box, after a good run, hit the post.
© 2024 Rediff.com -