Xtra Time Web Desk: The hope of making it to the playoffs in ISL 10 is still alive for East Bengal. Wednesday, 3rd April Red and Gold beat Kerala Blasters by 4-2 goals.
Saul Crspo and Mahesh Naorem Singh scored a goal each for East Bengal. During the match, Kerala’s players Jeakson Singh and Naushad Moideen received red cards. As a result, Kerala had to play with fewer players for some time, which somewhat favoured East Bengal. As a consequence of this victory, East Bengal has gained 21 points in 20 matches.
East Bengal had dominance from the beginning of the game and they managed to stay ahead within the first 10 minutes. But Clayton Silva header go to the out side. However, within 23 minutes, Kerala managed to catch up. Cernych scored due to a mistake from East Bengal’s defense and goalkeeper Prabhsukhan Gill. The remaining time of the first half saw an intense exchange of attacks, but the scoreline remained the same until just before halftime when Kerala’s Jixon V. received a second yellow card, resulting in a red card, and was sent off. Soon after, Karanjit Singh, Kerala’s goalkeeper, fouled Vishnu in the box, resulting in a penalty for East Bengal. Crespo converted the penalty to equalize.
Despite being reduced to 10 men, Kerala continued to put up a fight in the second half. They managed to stay ahead within 11 minutes, but East Bengal caught up again after 11 minutes. Moments after another Kerala player, Naushad, was sent off with a second yellow card. After that, Kerala couldn’t do much. Victor Basu’s header hit the post at 81 minutes, but soon after, Naorem scored another goal for East Bengal. Even then, Kerala didn’t give up and Hijazi scored an own goal under pressure. But Naorem secured the game’s outcome with his second goal, making it 4-2 in favor of East Bengal.
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With this victory, East Bengal climbed from 11th to 7th position in the league. Their next opponent is Bengaluru FC. They still have two matches left, one of which is against Bengaluru FC. This means there’s still a chance for them to secure their position in the top six.