Hammond nets winner as East Bengal edge Air India

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 a suspension, 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 strike 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 strike off a pass from the left flank hit the crossbar.

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.

The Mumbai team missed an opportunity to equalise when Dada Nabeel failed to convert a chance after skipper Velho had laid the ball for him in the 76th minute.

Meanwhile, in another match Sporting Club De Goa and Mohun Bagan drew 2-2. The scorers for Sporting were Nathaniel Adisa Amos (23rd) and Joseph Pereira (43rd).
Bagan got the goals from Branco Vincent Cardozo (32nd) and Marcos Pereira (42nd).