JCT hold East Bengal

JCT hold East Bengal
Press Trust of India

Kolkata, March 28: East Bengal’s hopes of consolidating their position atop the points table received a setback as they were held to a 2-2 draw by a spirited JCT team in the Fifth National Football League at the Salt Lake Stadium here today.

The glamour club paid the price for turning a trifle complacent after going ahead early in the contest and were forced to lift their game to eventually find the equaliser midway through the second session.

Striker Dipendu Biswas put the home team in the lead as early as the 10th minute of the contest converting a penalty, but JCT roared back into the game shortly after the interval with substitute Sameer and striker Sukhjit Singh scoring goals within two minutes to raise hopes of a stunning upset.

Jolted by the two successive strikes, East Bengal went into the offensive and managed to restore parity with striker Omalaja Olalekan producing a brilliant goal.

East Bengal, who were keen to garner full points from this home match against their weak opponents, had only themselves to blame for the debacle as the defenders seemed to underestimate their opponents in the second session. With this draw, East Bengal have now 35 points from 16 outings while JCT were still languishing at the bottom of the table having just 11 points from as many matches.

East Bengal shot into the lead when Dipankar Biswas converted a penalty without much fuss, giving no chance to JCT custodian Arvind Kumar.The penalty was awarded after JCT defender Jaswinder Singh brought down Dipendu inside the box with a tackle from behind. Leading by a solitary goal at the interval, the home team looked a little sluggish in the second session allowing their rivals to fire in two goals in quick succession.