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Federation Cup: East Bengal knock out Bengaluru FC

Manjeri (Kerala): Nigerian striker Chidi Edeh notched an opportunistic second-half double as East Bengal won 2-0 to knock out I-League leaders Bengaluru FC out of the 35th Federation Cup football tournament here at the MDSC


Chidi combined well with Shylo three minutes later to get behind the Bengaluru FC defense but his powerful left-footer sailed over the bar.

Bengaluru FC thought they had their noses in front when Rooney nodded in from close but the Australian's goal was disallowed because one of his teammates was in an offside position.

The I-League leaders had another good chance to take the lead when Chhetri swept in a low cross for Rooney who miscued his header. The best chance of the first half came to East Bengal just at the stroke of halftime.

Chidi latched on to an unconvincing clearance by Bengaluru FC and let loose a stinging effort that fizzed inches over.

After the break though, it was all East Bengal as they capitalised on two penalty misses by Bengaluru FC. First it was Sunil who was brought down by Arnab Mondal after the latter failed to clear the ball in defense and the India captain latched onto his mistake and darted forward inside the box. But he was tripped by a backtracking Arnab which led a penalty.

Much to the despair of the full house who were cheering Sunil every time he had possession, the Indian captain hit his spot kick straight at Gurpreet Singh.

Hardly had Bengaluru FC regrouped from the penalty miss, their custodian Pawan Kumar let in a regulation save from Chidi's 30-yard jab at goal. The ball rolled into the net beneath the outstretched arms of Pawan.

Chidi scored again few minutes later, letting loose a rasping 30-yard right-footer from Moga's deflected attempt. Sean Rooney capped a bad day in office for Bengaluru FC when he muffed his effort wide from the spot after earning the penalty.

East Bengal could have walked away with a three goal win had Moga's effort from a freekick not come off the crosspiece.