Silva’s late strike holds East Bengal

East Bengal took the lead through a counter-attack. Edmilson Marques, accepting a ball on the right, relayed it to MM Mukasi, who hoodwinked defender John Dias with a body feint, raced down and beat keeper Abijit Mondal on his left.

Unperturbed by the setback, Dempo restored parity two minutes later. Defender Valeriano Rebello sent a goalmouth lob, which took a deflection off defender Majek Balaji’s head and caught keeper Pal off guard to find the net. Thereafter, it was all Dempo and East Bengal survived anxious moments with Roberto Silva’s shot from the top of the box hitting the post and Nicholau Boges missing an open goal from inside the box off a pass from Climax Lawrence.

Sensing danger, East Bengal played a defensive game and coach Subrata Bhattacharjee removed striker Mukasi bringing on defender Soumik Dey to bolster the defence in the second half with Edmilson Marques playing as the lone striker. The move paid rich dividends as East Bengal again took the lead in the 60th minute.

Alvito D’Cunha sent a forward pass to Edmilson Marques, who raced into the box before despatching a firm grounder past Abhijit Mondal. Dempo piled on the pressure with a series of raids but the rival defence, in the absence of M Suresh and Surkumar Singh, did well to ward off the danger until the 86th minute when Silva equalised off a lob by Mahesh Gawli.