It is looking like a happy ending to their otherwise gloomy season as East Bengal defeated the Indian Super League Shield winners Mumbai City FC at the Mumbai Football Arena on Sunday. It was a game of very less significance for the Islanders but the Red and Golds were keen on delivering a match winning performance and that’s exactly what they did as they ended their last away game this season with a 1-0 win.
With Mumbai City FC already crowned the ISL Shield winners, Des Buckingham handed debuts to four players and named an all Indian frontline. The match was evenly poised for the majority and it was Naorem Mahesh Singh who became the deciding factor with his solitary goal.
This win was special for the boys in Red and Gold as they have had a very disappointing season with plenty of questions for their upcoming future. But on this night they became the first team to beat the Islanders at their home this season and also the only team to keep a clean sheet against Buckingham’s men.
Stephen Constantine was very happy with his team’s performance as he lauded them and felt that East Bengal were the better side on the night. He also congratulated Des Buckingham’s Mumbai City for their Shield win. But overall he was very delighted to end the match with a cleansheet.
“I’m delighted with the performance of our players and they played from start to finish. I thought, we were the better team. Obviously congratulations to Buckingham and staff for winning the shield, which is a great achievement but delighted to be the first team to beat them at home with a clean sheet,” Constantine stated at the post match press conference.
East Bengal will end their season with the Kolkata Derby as they will host arch rivals ATK Mohun Bagan at the Salt Lake stadium on 25th February. Constantine is very well versed with the derby and given that his team lost the reverse fixture 2-0, he understands that the supporters are longing for revenge. Therefore he assures them that if the players put up a performance like they have done against Mumbai City or Kerala Blasters and Jamshedpur FC then they can beat the Mariners as they can be a handful; for any team on their day.
“I know what the derby means to everybody. It’s an important game. We want to win it. We will try to win it and it will be, as it always is, a really tough, difficult, hard fought game and I hope that we take the confidence from the performances like today, against Kerala Blasters FC and Jamshedpur FC, where we have shown that we are more than capable of beating anybody on our day, we beat Mumbai with a full team in Durand Cup, When we keep their shape, we will have the result,” the Englishman assured the fans of giving everything on the Kolkata Derby.
Overall East Bengal are in eighth position on the points table with 18 points and till now they have won six matches. While it is their best season ever since they joined hands with ISL, it is also another season of them failing to make it to the playoffs. So Constantine who is currently unsure of his future as his contract ends in May feels that the club should stick with one coach and give him some time to see results. He highlighted how the club has changed 10 coaches in four years and it has not yielded results for the Kolkata outfit.
“My contract finishes in May and if people are unhappy with my performance I have no problems. I will have offers here in India and outside but if you keep changing the coach, don’t expect to win too many matches in football. We (EBFC) have changed 10 coaches in the last four years. Find the right guy, if I’m not the right guy, no problem. But give the guy two years, three years and then you judge him,” he concluded.
