Veterans Roy Krishna and Mourtada Fall found the net as Odisha FC beat East Bengal 2-1 at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday to register their second win of the Indian Super League season.
Krishna and Fall scored either side of a first-half penalty from East Bengal striker Dimitrios Diamantakos to climb to seventh in the table.
With this loss, the Red & Gold Brigade succumbed to their sixth successive loss this ISL season and a second consecutive one under new head coach Oscar Bruzon.
The stage for the same was set up by Krishna in the 22nd minute, as the Fijian forward scored his fourth goal against East Bengal FC in the competition. Livewire youngster Isak Vanlalruatfela was given plenty of space on the left flank when he launched a slightly long-ranged through delivery for Krishna.
The striker was in the right place at the right time to pierce through the visitors’ backline. He collected the ball at ease, marched forward and mastered the 1v1 situation with East Bengal goalkeeper Prabhsukhan Singh Gill to land the ball in the bottom right corner.
Odisha held on to that lead dearly until midfielder Thoiba Singh floundered and handled the ball in the penalty area as the first half was about to draw to an end. Diamantakos stepped up to snap his scoreless streak and net for the first time in five ISL matches. With his left foot, he deposited the ball into the bottom right corner, past a fully stretched Amrinder Singh.
In the second half, Odisha had to regain control back over the proceedings, and Lobera’s trusted lieutenants – Fall and Ahmed Jahouh, yet again answered his call. A free-kick on the inside channel of the right flank, at distance, was sufficient for the duo to turn the tables as Jahouh’s impeccable delivery was directed accurately to Fall, who nodded the ball home and secured the lead back for his team in the 69th minute.
Matters got further complicated for East Bengal when Provat Lakra was sent off for a second yellow card in the 76th minute for a tackle on Jahouh. Being a man down, they were unable to catch up with a well-coordinated Odisha FC unit, who walked back with three points in their bag.
With this defeat, East Bengal FC have now become the second team in ISL history to lose their first six matches of the season after NorthEast United FC in 2022-23, who had faced defeats in all of their opening 10 games.
