I-League 2015/16 – East Bengal and Ranti decimate Sporting in a splendid 2nd half display

Starting lineup:

It seemed as if both the clubs started with the standard 4-4-2 formation, but it was anything but that. Mahmoud Al Amna and Odafa Okolie started upfront for Sporting, but the Syrian dropped deep as the match progressed with Odafe playing as the target-man.

Sporting started the match on a positive note, and they managed to test East Bengal goalkeeper Rehenesh TP in the opening minute of the game. Mauvin Borges produced a dangerous cross from the right wing, but Mahmoud's weak header was straight at the keeper.

Most of Sporting's attacks were coming down the right wing, and East Bengal left back Robert Lalthlamuana had a hard time containing them. The home team dominated the opening 10 minutes of the game, and looked dangerous every time they moved into the final third.

Sporting did not have to wait for long though, as Odafa opened his account to provide them with the lead just one minute later. Once again, the move started on the right, with Robert being caught out of position by a through ball. Odafa lost his marker Bello Rasaq by brilliantly checking his pace inside the box, and then found the bottom corner of the net with a low and accurate shot into the far post.

East Bengal nearly pulled out an equalizer against the run of play, but Hyun and Mallick wasted two opportunities in the 31st minute. The first chance arrived from Mallick's cross from the right wing, which Hyun managed to flick over the bar. The ball got a touch off the defender though, and the referee awarded East Bengal a corner.

Sporting had one more chance before the halftime, and it arrived in the 38th minute. Mahmoud was once again free down the right wing, and he picked out Odafa inside the box with a curling cross. However, the Nigerian's header went wide of the post.

In the second half, East Bengal came out with much more purpose in their attack. They shifted their focus from the right wing to the left wing, and Bikash Jairu saw a lot of the ball in the opening 10 minutes of the restart.

The evergreen Ranti Martins scored his first goal of the season in the 68th minute to restore parity in the game. Hyun's corner from the right was cleared at the near post by a defender, but the ball reached the Korean once again on the right wing. This time he picked out Ranti with a deadly cross, and the Nigeria's deft flick guided the ball into the far corner of the net.

At the other end, Rehenesh produced a fine save to keep out Odafe's stinging effort, after he went through on goal. It was East Bengal though, who looked more likely to score the next goal of the game, specially with Biswajit Bhattacharya bringing in CS Sabeeth and Mohammed Rafique from the bench, just before they scored the goal.

Even before Sporting could recover from this shock, Ranti Martins doubled East Bengal's lead with a fantastic individual goal. He chested down a long ball from the back, and shook off Joseph Clemente like he did not exist, before firing the ball past Arindam Bhattacharya at the Sporting goal.

In the other match at Meghalaya, Mumbai FC were held to a 0-0 draw by Shillong Lajong.