A sublime performance by midfielder Mahmoud Al Amna against Indian Arrows at the Dr Ambedkar Stadium here on Tuesday helped I-league table-toppers East Bengal triumph 2-0. The Syrian attacking midfielder scored and assisted (to Yusa Katsumi) a goal each for the Kolkata giants on the day to increase their gap at the top to four points — ahead of Minerva Punjab, who are placed second with 13 points and have played two matches less.
Starting as the favourites, East Bengal took control of the match from the first minute as much of the action took place in Arrows' half. They managed to penetrate into the box on couple of occasions from both the flanks but lack of quality delivery failed to perturb the Arrow defenders.
But the persistence soon paid off in the 13th minute when Katsumi was taken down by Abhishek Halder at the edge of the left-side of the box. A well-taken shot from the resulting freekick to the near post by Amnah caught Prabhsukhan Gill by surprise — who was expecting an in-direct set-piece and left the first post unguarded — as the ball sailed into the net for the opening goal.
"I am happy with my performance today as it helped us feel more comfortable at the top of the table," said Amna. "For a big club like East Bengal, it is always important to challenge title and hopefully we will continue doing that."
Before Arrows could recover from the first goal blunder, things got worse in the 16th minute for the home side as Katsumi doubled Red and Gold's lead after receiving Amna's cross from the right flank. Shot-stopper Gill seemed again at fault as he was caught way off his line by the Japanese midfielder, who struck the blow with a finesse shot.
This was Katsumi's fifth goal of the season, which also made him top scorer in I-league so far. The former Mohun Bagan player said result mattered more than his goal.
"I was happy to score again but it is not more important than the three points we earned today. They managed to draw against Bagan in Kolkata, so this is a big result for us," he said.
Arrows tried and push back into the game for the remaining 30 minutes but were dwarfed by the imposing defenders of East Bengal. The teenagers enjoyed bulk of possession but the presence of robust defensive midfielder Bazie Armand negated any attack from developing. Arrows couldn't manage a single shot on target and won just one corner in the first half.
In order to change things, Arrows' coach Luis Norton de Matos sent in Suresh Singh Wangjam instead of midfielder Halder at the beginning of the second half. The move added impetus in their attack as the blue-clad boys came close to finding their first goal in the 50th minute. Arrows' striker Edmund Lalrindika managed to sneak away from two East Bengal's defenders inside the box but was closed down by goalkeeper Luis Barreto. Another glorious opportunity arrived six minutes later. Wangjam's corner kick was headed by Anwar Ali towards Abhijit Sarkar, whose side-heeled but weak effort on target was easily saved by Barreto.
Both the sides had sniffed the goal for the remainder of the match but they failed to convert those chances as the referee blew final whistle after three minutes of injury time.
This was Arrows' last home match in the national Capital as they will play remaining home matches in Goa — at the same venue where they played their first two home matches.