CALCUTTA (India): Martin Crespi and Marcos Espada were on target as East Bengal struggled to overcome TRAU FC in the I-League here on Saturday.
Marcos’s effort, a header off a right-footed cross from Samad Ali in the 17th minute, gave the red and gold brigade the lead.
But to the utter surprise of the hosts, the league debutants equalied after Deepak Devrani cancelled it out in the 45th minute.
However, Crespi fired home the winning goal in the 88th after he nudged the ball home following a deflected Marcos header.
Despite the win, East Bengal wasn’t been that impressive will have to pull up their socks in the tournament.
Besides, the Calcutta club’s defensive woes continued as it failed to keep the slate clean this season.
TRAU FC, at the bottom of the table, will pat itself on the back for the brand of football for their ambitious and aggressive attitude against their opponent who moved to the top of the table.
Line-ups:
East Bengal: Lalthuammawia Ralte, Asheer Akhtar, Kamalpreet Singh, Pintu Mahata, Kassim Aidara, Marcos Espada, Ronaldo Oliveira, Martin Crespi, Juan Mera, Samad Ali, Abhishek Ambekar.
TRAU XI: Gurpreet Singh, Soraisham Singh, Konsam Singh, Khundongbam Singh, Wahengbam Luwang, Princewell Olariche, Abhishek Das, Denechandram Meitei, Patrick Uche, Deepak Devrani, Laishram Singh.
