VP Suhair put NorthEast United FC ahead in the 61st minute before Patrick Flottmann headed home from a cleverly worked free-kick in the 68th minute to seal the win.
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NorthEast United FC defeated SC East Bengal 2-0 in the Indian Super League (ISL) fixture at Fatorda Stadium on Friday. After both sides failed to break the deadlock in the opening half, VP Suhair put the Highlanders ahead after the hour-mark. And then, Patrick Flottmann doubled the lead and sealed NEUFC’s second victory of the campaign. Both sides came into the match on the back of some poor form as the Highlanders were thrashed 5-1 by Hyderabad FC in the previous game while East Bengal sit at the bottom with four loses from seven games.
NEUFC’s evening started on a negative note as they lost Hernan Santana to injury during the warm-up, therefore the Highlanders played with just three foreigners. The first half was a cagey affair as both sides failed to create any proper chances. Meanwhile SCEB saw their central defender Franjo Prce leave the pitch due to injury as he twisted his ankle and was replaced by Amir Dersivevic in the first half.
Both teams canceled out each other and there was lack of quality in the final third as no shots were registered in the first half. At times it got a bit reckless and Rochharzela and Naorem received a yellow card for poor tackles.
NEUF goalkeeper Mirshad Michu who came in for Subhasish Roy made some poor decisions but the opposition failed to capitalize on it. On the stroke of half time, Mirshad poor clearance fell to Antonio Perosevic but the Kerala-born footballer quickly came off his line to deny the Croatian. Immediately after that, Daniel Chukwu was played through but the Nigerian missed that target.
The second half started with a yellow card to Lalkhawpuimawia. NEUFC came out with a bit more intent and put their nose ahead in the 61st minute. Raju Gaikwad gave the ball away to NEUFC inside his own half which allowed Mathias Coureur to break away quickly. The 33-year-old played in Mapuia on the right, whose cut back found Suhair at the far post.
How brilliant was that second-half performance from the Highlanders? pic.twitter.com/ASsjwUdY3R
— Indian Super League (@IndSuperLeague) December 17, 2021
The former Mohun Bagan striker got the better of Derisevic and finished off with a right-foot shot that hit inside of the left-sided post before going inside.
Seven minutes later, Khalid Jamil’s side extended the lead courtesy of a cleverly worked free-kick. Coureur laid the free-kick to Imran Khan on the right, whose inswinging cross was headed home by Flottmann from close range at the far post. Khassa Camara and Coureur came close to scoring as well but their attempts went wide respectively.
Things turned bad to worse for SCEB as Perosevic was shown a red card late in the game for barging into referee Rahul Kumar Gupta out of frustration. NEUFC defended to two goal lead pretty well and pocketed all three points.
Khalid’s side next awaits a stiff challenge from ATK Mohun Bagan at the PJN stadium in their next outing on Tuesday while East bengal take on Hyderabad FC at the Athletic Stadium on Thursday.
