PTI

Injury-hit East Bengal defeat Air India 1-0

Sat, Nov 7 07:54 PM

Mumbai, Nov 7 (PTI) Visitors East Bengal overcame injury woes to hand over Air India their second consecutive defeat by a solitary goal in the seventh round I-League match at the Cooperage here today. Foreign recruit Abel Hammond scored the all important goal for the visitors, who were missing the likes of Bhaichung Bhutia, Renedy Singh and Sanju Pradhan due to injuries, in the 29th minute.

The hosts, however, clearly missed the services of Nigerian striker N D Opara, who had to sit out due to double booking, as they failed to create enough opportunities despite dominating the second half. Earlier, Tapan Maity had the opportunity to open the account for the hosts but his stroke of a pass from skipper Soccor Velho was easily latched on to by the goalkeeper.

A collision between the host''s goalkeeper Arnab Das Sarma and Behnam Foroughirad forced Air India coach to substitute both with Sambhu Mistry and Harpreet Singh respectively. Meanwhile, East Bengal were unfortunate not to add another goal to their tally as Mitrovic Srecko''s stroke off a pass from the left flank hit the horizontal bar.

Air India were a different side in the second half as they slowly took control of the proceedings. However, they failed to convert it into goals.

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