AFC Cup: East Bengal lose 1-2 to Balestier Khalsa

Kolkata's football giants East Bengal slumped to a 1-2 defeat in their third AFC Cup group F away encounter against Balestier Khalsa here on Tuesday evening.

Forward Jonathan Xu opened the scoring for the hosts before Croatian striker Miroslav Kristic doubled their advantage.

Nigerian forward Dudu Omagbemi managed to pull one back for East Bengal late in the second half but it was the Singaporeans who had the last laugh at the Jalan Besar Stadium.

After the first few minutes of the exchange, Khalsa made the breakthrough as East Bengal custodian Abhijit Mondal came off his line to punch away a cross. The weak effort saw the ball land in front of Xu who smashed in a low effort from the edge of the box.

At the 20th minute mark, Khalsa scored again as Kristic exploited the gap between East Bengal defenders Gurwinder Singh and Raju Gaikwad to slot the ball home.

Three minutes from half-time, an effort from Nigerian striker Ranti Martins tested the keeper who needed to pull off a brilliant save. However, the flag was raised and the striker was correctly judged offside.

East Bengal kept piling on the pressure after the breather and got the reducer in the 82nd minute.

Mohammad Rafique's intelligent flick ball back to Dudu found the latter's volley thundering into the net.

The hosts managed to hold on to their lead and take all three points. The defeat leaves East Bengal with only a point in three games and will find it difficult to qualify for the next round.

--Indo-Asian News service

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