NorthEast United were able to extract revenge for their loss against East Bengal in their two earlier meetings this season by winning 3-2 at home. The early kickoff at Guwahati saw the Super Cup winners stunned by a goal from Tomi Juric, with the number 9 tapping in from close range after being unmarked in the box.
The visitors were pushed back into their own half for the majority of the early stages, and conceded a second goal within 15 minutes, with Nestor Albiach sending off pressure from Lalchungnunga to make it 2-0 in favour of his side.
The Highlanders looked comfortable on the offence, while East Bengal were sloppy in their defence and were far below their best.
Second half comeback not enough for East Bengal to earn draw against NorthEast United
The home team were consistently driven forward by Jitin Subran, but the second half saw East Bengal grow back into the game after a couple of changes. Nandakumar Sekhar scored the first goal of the game for the Red and Gold side with a powerful finish.
However, Juric scored his second goal of the game and made it 3-2 with a brilliant finish from the edge of the box, curling it past Prabhsukhan Gill.
East Bengal’s new signing Forbes was able to make it 3-2, scoring in his debut for the club after heading it in from close range. But, it was not enough to help them get anything out of the game even with more than ten minutes left to play.
The win sees NorthEast United climb into the top six with 16 points from 14 games, leapfrogging Jamshedpur FC and Bengaluru FC. On the other hand, East Bengal are 9th in the table with 12 points from as many games. As they have played two less games this season, they will be expected to climb higher in the table once they have played a similar number of games.
But their defence will need to improve if they are to get results from their upcoming games. Moreover, they will also be without captain Cleiton Silva in their next game against Mumbai City FC, with the striker ruled out because of too many yellow cards.
