Do-Dong Hyun scored a hattrick in the first practice tie

Dong scored a hattrick for East Bengal in the first practice tie. Xtra Time
Dong scored a hattrick for East Bengal in the first practice tie. Xtra Time

Kolkata: East Bengal played their first practice match of the season to day at Howrah Stadium. They won the match against East Bengal academy footballers with a margin of 3-1. Do-Dong Hyun scored a hattrick for the Red and Gold senior team.

The practice match was played for the full 90 minutes with three halves of 30 minutes at the Sailen Manna stadium in Howrah. In the 1st half Do-Dong advanced East Bengal by one goal. However, they conceived one by the Academy in the second half. from a Manipuri boy of Academy named Roger who scored the equaliser with an in-step from his right foot.

However, in the 2nd half Do Dong scored a brace to complete his hat-trick. However, head coach of East Bengal Trevor James Morgan is not happy with the quality of football played by the senior team. Still a hat-trick from star striker Do Dong can make the supporters happy and hopeful.

East Bengal played a perfect practice match with the players running rotational. During the match Dong paired with Rafiq for sometimes at the forward while sometimes he was paired with newcomer Jiten Murmu. The new defender of East Bengal Calum Angus also played in this match and looked smooth. Arshpreet Singh, who played for Minerva Academy FC in the recently concluded I-League 2nd Division, has came for trial at East Bengal.

Today the Academy team also played very well. They played for the the regulation time of 90 minutes. During this 90 minutes they did not play long shots. They depended on passing football with grounders.

Coach of Academy Ranjan Choudhury said, “25 footballers from different parts of the country are training under me. Win or loss does not matter to me. I want them to teach them football. They should learn the tactical side of the footballers.”

Head coach of East Bengal Morgan also praised the match the academy players played. He said, “The juniors played very well. This helped for a better practice match.”

However, Morgan also satisfied with the performance of East Bengal. He said, “I am not interested on whether Calum is playing well, Dong can make a come back or not. I wanted to play as much as practice matches. How much the players are fit for the match after 10 days’ practice session I wanted to see. I wanted to see whether the team can run for 90 minutes or not.”

East Bengal will be playing three more practice matches. On 23rd thereis a match against George Telegraph at Howrah. On 26th there will be a match against Bangaon XI at Bangaon. The last practice match has been organised by Baichung Bhutia at Siliguri Kanchenjunga Stadium on 29th July.