Rangdajied stuns Bengaluru FC

Stalemate in Kolkata derby

Bottom-placed Rangdajied United FC stunned table toppers Bengaluru FC 3-2 in a major upset of the I-League at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Saturday.

Steven Dias drew first blood for the home team 15 minutes into the first half.

Lalnunpuia doubled the score in the 31st minute while their new striker on loan Ranti Martins netted the winner in the 76th minute of the match to hand new coach Herring Shangpliang a winning start.

Dias made no mistake in converting a shot he took just outside the box to find its way into the net in the far left corner leaving Bengaluru FC keeper Pawan Kumar failing to cover.

The home team doubled the lead in the 31st minute when Lalnunpuia headed home a Steven Dias cross from inside the box.

Bengaluru FC struck back with skipper Sunil Chettri and Sean Rooney scoring within 15 minutes of the second half. Much to the delight of the home fans, Rangdajied’s last card in store — new striker Martins — made no mistake in netting a rebound from Bengaluru keeper Pawan Kumar.

With this win, Rangdajied came out of relegation zone while Bengaluru FC are still three points ahead of Sporting Clube de Goa at the top.

Bagan hold EB

Mohun Bagan held arch-rivals East Bengal to a 1-1 draw in their high-profile return derby match of the I-League at Yuba Bharati Krirangan on Saturday.

East Bengal went ahead with a James Moga header in the 39th minute while Bagan restored parity in the 67th minute when C S Sabeeth headed home from a drop ball from opponent keeper Gurpreet Singh. Both now have 20 points each. East Bengal have played 14 games while Mohun Bagan had four more games.

While Bagan’s goal machine Odafa Okolie was still nursing a hamstring injury forcing coach Karim Bencherifa to try new striking line of Ram Malik and substitute Manish Bhargav, Armando Colaco had tough time to have replacement for Uga Okpara and Edeh Chidi in the first eleven.

Banking on short passes, Bagan upfront kept pressure on the rival citadel and Sabeeth had the easiest chance inside 25 minutes.

But his right-footer from Ekizona was held by Gurpreet Singh. East Bengal surged ahead in a counter attack six minute from the break when Moga headed home a left cross from Joachim Abranches as Bagan keeper Paul Shilton failed to read the floater.

After resumption, Bagan upped the ante for an equaliser with short passes as their midfielder Katsumi Yusa was the live-wire in the attack.  His two shots were saved by Gurpreet Singh.