East Bengal's defensive ploy backfired as they began on a worst possible start in their AFC Cup campaign with a solitary goal loss to Lebanon's Safa Sporting Club in Beirut.
The Federation Cup champions, who went into the match looking for a draw, were outplayed in the first half and never recovered in the later session to concede a deserving three points to their opponents.
Safa's Cameroonian midfielder Bernard Rafael Mbassi netted the only goal of the Group B match in the 18th minute at the Beirut Sports City late last night.
Aloke Mukherjee's back four of M. Suresh, Surkumar Singh, M. Bolaji and Debabrata Roy had an off day, and with midfield lacking in creativity, it was a torrid time for the red-and-gold brigade in the first half.
Safa, who were debuting in the continent's second tier club competition, capitalised on the shaky East Bengal backline and got at least four clear chances at the rival goal early into the match and found the winner from one of them.
The first chance for the Lebanese Premier League side came in the 16th minute but medio Amer Khan's shot hit the crossbar. Two minutes later, Mohamed Korhani's pin-point cross from the left saw an unmarked Mbassi finding the back of the net.
Goalkepeer Subrata Pal had to come out of his line frequently to cover the holes in defence including the one when he charged out to deny a free shot to the Mbassi inside the box.
But, the India number one goalkeeper must have thanked lady luck when Khodr Salameh hit the left upright just before the break.
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