I-League: East Bengal edge past Pune FC 3-2

In a goal-feast at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex here on Saturday, East Bengal emerged victorious as they edged past Pune FC 3-2 in a hard-fought I-League contest.

The Nigerian duo of Ranti Martins and Dudu Omagbemi scored one each and Harmanjot Singh Khabra scored the other for the visitors while Matthew Gonsalves and Montenegrin striker Darko Nikac found the back of the net for Pune.

Martins broke the deadlock 18 minutes into the game as he latched onto a cross inside the rival penalty area and finished past the custodian to give his side the lead.

Gonsalves equalized for the home team 19 minutes later as he sent it a hopeful ball into the box, and Abhijit Mondal, the East Bengal custodian made a mess of it trying to punch the ball away but the sphere somehow found the back of the net.

The teams were tied at 1-1 as they went into the halftime.

Two minutes after the breather, Khabra put the away side ahead as he scored with a stunning left-footer.

Eight minutes later, Dudu doubled the lead for his side capitalizing on some shoddy work from the Pune defenders as he found himself at the end of a looping cross and hammered it into the net.

Nikac scored again for Pune, staging a comeback for his side. But the East Bengal defenders thereafter did enough to keep the rival attackers at bay and seal a hard-fought win.

East Bengal are fifth on the table with 19 points from 12 games, whereas Pune are fourth with 20 points from 13 games.