I-League 2015/16 – Hat-trick hero Ranti propels East Bengal to top of the table
Ranti Martins scored the first hat-trick of this I-League season as East Bengal fired warning shots to their rivals with an emphatic 4-0 win over Shillong Lajong. With this victory, East Bengal now lead the table for the first time this season, with both Bengaluru and Mohun Bagan scheduled to play tomorrow.
East Bengal: Luis Barreto (GK); Rahul Bheke, Arnab Mondal, Bello Razaq, Saumik Dey; Sanju Pradhan, Bernard Mendy, Mehtab Hossain, Bikash Jairu; Mohammed Rafique, Ranti Martins
Shillong Lajong: Vishal Kaith (GK); Aibor Khongjee, Pritam Singh, Yusuke Yamagata, Konsham Singh; Samuel Shadap, Boithang Haokip; Bipin Singh, Penn Orji, Fabio; Uilliams
The big news at the start of the game was presence of Do Dong-Hyun on the East Bengal bench. The Korean foward was in the news recently due to his ill-tempered reaction at being substituted in their last match. He had to pay a fine before being allowed to train with the team, and manager Biswajit Bhattacharya sent out a message to the rest of the team by dropping him for this game.
Shillong started with a 4-2-3-1 formation with Uilliams leading the line, with Fabio and Penn Orji providing him support. East Bengal went back to their favoured 4-4-2 formation with Mohammed Rafique being used as a support striker to targetman Ranti Martins.
Shillong Lajong started the match brightly and looked likelier to score in the opening ten minutes of the game. But it was East Bengal who took the lead, almost against the run of play, in the 17th minute as Ranti Martins scored his fifth goal of the season.
Mehtab Hossain started the move from the midfield when he picked out Sanju Pradhan on the right flank. The winger produced a lovely cross into the box, which Martins tapped in with his left leg.
The goal lifted East Bengal to 1-0, and just nine minutes later, Ranti doubled the home team's lead, and what a brilliant strike it was. The Nigerian found the back of the net from 24 yards out, with a thunderous drive, that gave Vishal Kaith in the Shillong goal nothing much to do about.
Ranti Martins completed his hat-trick in the 37th minute after a brilliant piece of link-up play with Mohammed Rafique. The midfielder's chip into the box caused havoc in the Shillong defence. Kaith came out to take control of the ball, but missed it, while Samuel Shadap missed his clearance. Ranti was the only man who kept his composure inside the box, and applied the finishing touch.
At 3-0, the match was over even before the half-time break, and Bikash Jairu added the cherry on the top with his second goal in as many matches. The dynamic winger was picked out on the right wing by Rafique, whose attempted cross was on goal, and the goalkeeper made a complete mess of his attempt to grab it. The ball slipped away from his grip and went into the back of the net.
This 4-0 defeat has dealt a huge blow to Shillong's goal difference, and they could very well find themselves in the bottom-two by the end of the next gameweek.
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