Second string Dempo thrash East Bengal 3-1 in Super Cup
By IANSWednesday, December 1, 2010
GURGAON - East Bengal’s high-flying season ended on a sour note as they lost 1-3 to a second string Dempo in the one-off Super Cup football match here Wednesday.
For I-League champions Dempo, Nigerian striker Ranty Martins struck a hat-trick (32nd, 34th, 46th) after his compatriot Penn Orji (22nd) opened the scoring for the Kolkata giants at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium.
Dempo, who were missing eight frontline players due to national duty, pocketed the prize money of Rs.1 million.
The loss will haunt East Bengal, who won the Federation Cup, Kolkata League and the Platinum Jubilee Cup this season, ahead of the I-League that starts Friday.
Fresh from their 2-0 win over arch-rivals Mohun Bagan last week, that assured them the Kolkata League, East Bengal raised hopes of ending the season on a high with Orji opening the scoring after he shot from the edge of the box.
But the veteran Martins showed signs right from the start that he would be unstoppable for the red and gold brigade. Martin came close to scoring in the 12th minute but his powerful right-footer was well saved by East Bengal goalkeeper Jayant Paul.
After conceding the goal, the Goan team was desperate to come back into the game and in the 32nd minute Marcus Peixto sneaked into the box, but Paul put up another save to keep East Bengal in lead.
Seconds later seeing an on-rushing Martins, Paul came out and instead collided with Sunil Kumar and as they two fell on the ground, Martin dodged past, slotting into an open net.
Two minutes later, Martins again moved into the box and tapped in a rebound as Dempo went into the break with a 2-1 lead.
The Goan team added the third, a minute after the breather, with Martins and Joe Rodrigues combining well to split the East Bengal defence. Right winger Rodrigues gave a pinpoint pass to Martins and the striker netted it perfectly.
East Bengal coach Trevor James Morgan added some teeth to his attack in the second half by bringing on the experienced Alvito DCunha and Australian striker of Turkish origin Ozbey Tolgay, but the duo couldnt make much headway.
