JOIN USRiding on a first-half strike by Tolgey Ozbay, East Bengal scraped into the final of the IFA Shield football tournament for the 40th time with a 1-0 win over Pailan Arrows here on Tuesday.
The winner came in the 21st minute at the near-empty Salt Lake stadium.
Latching on to a lovely pass from Penn Orji from the midfield, Tolgey showed his class as he outwitted two Arrow defenders and let loose a right-footer into the far left corner of the net.
Tolgay, declared man of the match, was a doubtful starter for the match after an MRI scan on Monday detected a groin injury.
Penn made up for the absence of the injured mid-fielder Mehtab Hossain by feeding the forwards well right through the game which saw East Bengal dominate the opening half, while exchanges were even in the second session.
Arrows rallied in the second half but they failed to create scoring chances.
In Friday’s final, East Bengal will face the winner of the second semifinal between Brazil’s Botafogo FR and United SC on Wednesday.