NEW DELHI: East Bengal deservingly won the Durand Cup for the eight times and rich purse of Rs 150,000 when they scored 3-1 win over arch rivals Mobun Bagan in tie-breaker at the Ambedkar stadium.
Krishnendu Roy, Manoranjan Bhattacharya and Bikas Panji scored from spot after tie-breaker was resorted to as the teams failed to score in regulation and extra time. International goal-keeper Debashis Mukherjee saved Moidul Islam’s kick.
But for Mohun Bagan, the tie-breaker turned out to be disastrous as three of their strikers wasted the shots. Captain Sisir Ghosh started the ruin, hitting at the post after Krishnendu and Manoranjan had put East Bengal two up. Then Sukhen Sengupta emulated his captain while Subrata Bhattacharjee hit at bar to end their hopes of winning the trophy for the 15th time.
Their only scorer was Satyajit Chatterjee who converted the first shot to a level 1-1 after Krishnendu Roy’s hit went in touching debashis.
Earlier, East Bengal totally outplayed their rivals, attacking relentlessly to avenge their 2-0 loss in the Calcutta league. However, veteran Subrata, who made his 19th appearance in the Durand, marshaled his men well to see no damage, had been done till the extra time was over.
Mobun Bagan was at no time in the match as they had to seek even the forward’s help to stave off the marauding east Bengal strikers. They could not create even a single opening in the rival defense,
Article extracted from this publication >> January 12, 1990
