East Bengal let Kochin escape with draw

CALCUTTA, March 15: East Bengal and FC Kochin earned a point each after drawing their Philips National Football League return match 1-1 at t...

CALCUTTA, March 15: East Bengal and FC Kochin earned a point each after drawing their Philips National Football League return match 1-1 at the Salt Lake Stadium here today. East Bengal now have 25 points with two matches to go. Kochin are a point ahead but have only one match remaining in the 10-team League.

The draw today will help Mohun Bagan, who now have to win tomorrow’s match against Air-India to steer clear of these two teams. However, they still have Goa’s Salgaocar breathing down their neck.

Kochin forged ahead in the 31st minute through a Raman Vijayan goal which found East Bengal goalkeeper Kalyan Chaubey reacting a bit too late.

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Although defender Debashis Pal Choudhury deflected Raman’s 25-yarder, Chaubey did not read the movement of the ball as well as he should have. Even technical director P K Banerjee was later inclined to blame his goalkeeper for the strike. Raman received a cross from his namesake I M Vijayan and did not waste time in shooting.

East Bengal’s equaliser came in the68th minute although the local side looked good enough to score from the very first minute of the second half. Substitute Renedy Singh’s corner found Naushad Moosa tapping to Felix Ijabadaniyi who took a crack at the goal. The ball appeared to be heading wide of the far post when it took a sudden deflection off Bhaichung Bhutia’s head and entered the goal. Kochin technical director George Blues felt East Bengal should have got more than one goal. He termed his team lucky to have got away with one point.

“I have been saying from the beginning that my team cannot win the League as we are missing players in important positions,” Blues said after the match, resigned to fighting for the second place. Even Banerjee is now concentrating on earning the runners-up spot for his team.

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