Well the referee blew the whistle around the end of the fourth minute which was mistaken as the full-time whistle by the East Bengal fans in the crowd. A few crackers went off but the game wore on. Finally, the ref blew the final whistle and the rest of the crackers and cheers went off. We also see some flares in the crowd, which is not the smartest thing to do. But the atmosphere that has been on display today is a reminder that Indian football has a heartbeat and that is this great rivalry. Let's hope no one gets hurt by those flares though.

Alberto Martin, the Bagan centre back, takes a shot from about 40 yards out and it wasn't too far from the cross bar. But, off target. It's been pretty much only Bagan on the ball in this half but they have hardly ever come close to scoring. Despite all that possession, the best chances of this half have been at their end of the pitch. They have been thoroughly outplayed today.

The final drinks break. What in the world can Mohun Bagan do here. A win seems to be almost out of question, it will really take a miraculous collapse from East Bengal for that to happen and for now, Bagan have a Red and Gold wall in front of them.

Again, East Bengal break forward, Rashid playing Edmund down the right hand side and the latter takes a first-time shot inside the box. It goes whistling over the bar. Bagan finding no way through, East Bengal doing it too easily.

At long last, Mohun Bagan bring on Sahal Abdul Samad, who has been their main source of goals this tournament but starts from the bench today for reasons only known to Dilmperis. He replaces Liston and is one of three changes, the other two being Kiyan Nassiri and Deepak Tangri come on for Appuia and Anirudh Thapa.

Rashid carries the ball through the lines (where is the Bagan defence again), lays it off for Edmund. The latter misses a chance to score his fourth, makes a hash of the attempted shot.

After three minutes of added time, it ends 4-1 in East Bengal's favour. and the half-time stats show that Bagan had 57 percent possession and eight shots to East Bengal's seven. The scorecard says otherwise.

Oh Bagan miss a golden chance to cut East Bengal's lead down to one. Manvir gets the ball in the box, the keeper and defenders converge on him. He cuts back to the scot-free Jamie MacLaren but he makes an absolute hash of his first-time shot. He really had the time to take touch and go for it as well. But Bagan are now finally starting to look capable of converting their forrays into the East Bengal third into clear-cut chances. This game has more goals in it.

31st min: Half an hour gone, it is a rainy day but that doesn't mean players don't need to hydrate in the punishing humidity in Kolkata. It also allows Dilmperis to should some sense into his players. He is barking away orders as they take some fluids down. If it stays like this, it will be the highest margin of victory in the final of the Durand Cup since 1953, although there was a 3-0 score in the 1978 final in East Bengal's favour against Mohun Bagan as well, interestingly enough. Surajit Sengupta, Mihir Bose and Tapan Das were on the scoresheet at the time.

Oh Edmund snakes his way around a defender and then Kaith and taps the ball into a goal that he forced to be unguarded. East Bengal seem to have won this already! Where is the Mohun Bagan defence? It started with Bhatt getting the ball on the left and playing it to Ramirez, who in turn got it to Edmund.

EAST BENGAL ARE FLYING! Edmund gets the ball outside the box and takes a shot. It really wasn't the best of connections and Vishal Kaith dives the right way. The Bagan keeper was just too slow to act though and the ball goes past him. East Bengal have got two goals in 2 minutes!

A bit of a frantic start in the first two minutes but Mohun Bagan seem to have the more attacking intent in these opening minutes. East Bengal, however, are not an easy team to score against.

East Bengal starting 11: Prabhsukhan Gill (gk), Hardik Bhatt, Anwar Ali, Lalchungnunga, Jay Gupta, Sandip Mandi, Jeakson Singh, Bipin Singh, Mohammed Rashid, Daniel Ramirez, Edmund Lalrindika

Mohun Bagan starting 11: Vishal Kaith (gk), Tekcham Abhishek Singh, Rahul Bheke, Alberto Rodriguez, Subhasish Bose, Anirudh Thapa, Lalengmawia (Apuia), Samir Zeljkovic, Liston Colaco, Manvir Singh, Jamie Maclaren