East Bengal won a hard-fought I-League game, defeating Indian Arrows 2-1 at the Kalinga Stadium here on Tuesday.
Laldanmawia converted a penalty to give East Bengal the lead in the 26th minute before Jobby Justin (64th) doubled the advantage in the second half.
Ninthoi was the lone scorer for Arrows, bulging the net from the penalty spot in the 89th minute.
East Bengal remained at the fifth spot with 19 points from 10 matches and Arrows ninth with 10 points from 11 games.
The first half saw both teams making equal attempts but the strong defence line of the young Arrows and the experience of East Bengal ensured that neither side got any clear chance to score.
Arrows had the first opportunity to score when a long ball from Rahul was collected by Vikram Pratap. However, the latter couldn’t find the target.
It was East Bengal which went ahead when Jaime Santos’ perfect pass from the left to Laldanmaiwa in the Arrows box saw the latter make no mistake.
Thereafter, East Bengal started pressing hard and was rewarded with a penalty in the 30th minute when Arrows defender Jitendra Singh fouled Laldanmaiwa. Didicka, who took the penalty, failed to double the lead as Arrows goalkeeper Prabhsukhan Gill came up with a superb save.
East Bengal made a few attempts to increase its lead in the rest of the first half but failed to breach the Arrows defence.
On the attack
The second session began with Arrows showing more intent. Its attacks, coming at regular intervals, did create some problems for East Bengal, but the Arrows strikers couldn’t find the target.
East Bengal, on the other hand, started attacking again, exploiting the occasional defensive lapse, but was not successful.
However, Arrows was soon punished for its errors inside its own box when Justin netted East Bengal’s second goal in the 64th minute off a rebound which Arrows goalkeeper Prabhsukhan Gill failed to collect properly while trying to save Samad’s attempt.
The game suddenly took a physical turn and saw two red cards being flashed in the second half — one to East Bengal’s Lalram Chullova (56th minute), and Arrows’ Aniket Jadhav (second yellow card, 84th).
Arrows, however, did not give up and kept up its attacks, hoping to reduce the two-goal deficit.
Its efforts were soon rewarded when a foul on Ashish Rai from East Bengal’s Manoj gave the host a penalty in the 89th minute from which Ninthoi converted.
The result: East Bengal 2 (Laldanmawia-pen 26, Justin 64) bt Indian Arrows 1 (Ninthoi-pen 89-pen).
