East Bengal FC suffer a 1-3 defeat against Odisha FC in their first game of 2023

Despite taking a 1-0 lead in the 10th minute, thanks to Cleiton Silva’s goal, East Bengal FC ended up conceding 3 goals to suffer their fifth consecutive defeat against Odisha FC. The match was played at Bhubaneswar’s Kalinga Stadium on Saturday (January 7) evening.

EBFC Head Coach Stephen Constantine made 1 change to the starting XI that won against BFC as 18-year-old Himanshu Jangra replaced VP Suhair, who missed out due to four bookings.
The Red & Gold brigade went 1-0 up in the 10th minute as Cleiton netted his 8th Hero ISL goal this season from a tight angle. Alex Lima provided a lofted assist over the defence on the right side, which brought Amrinder Singh forward and left the goal exposed.
EBFC’s joy though was short-lived as the home side equalized in the 22nd minute via Diego Mauricio’s strike. The Brazilian forward met an inch-perfect cross from Raynier Fernandes off a corner and slotted it home with a clinical right-footed finish.
Right on the cusp of half-time, the Juggernauts took the lead as Nandhakumar Sekar launched a magical cross from the left that went past EBFC custodian Suvam Sen and found the back of the net.
Mauricio struck his second goal of the night in the 53rd minute as he latched on to a neatly placed assist from Raynier from the right side of the central midfield and drove it home, beating Sen at the near post.
The visitors created three chances in the second-half, but failed to convert any. In the 85th minute, Ankit Mukherjee put the ball past Amrinder’s near post, but the effort was questionably flagged offside.
EBFC are currently rooted to the ninth spot on the league table with 12 points from as many games (4 wins and 8 losses), while the win helped OFC climb up to the fifth spot with 22 points from 13 games (7 wins, 1 draw and 5 losses).
While Jangra was stretchered off in the 41st minute after twisting his ankle, Cleiton was brought off in the 81st minute due to a tight hamstring. When asked about the injury status of the two players at the end of the match, Constantine told the press, “He’s (Jangra) had a bad knock to the ankle. Not sure how serious it is. Again, that’s another player (who has gone injured). It was clearly a foul. He’s out, don’t know for how long. Cleiton went down and was feeling a bit tight in the hamstring. We could have kept him in and made things worse. Hopefully, he will be okay.”
The Red & Gold Brigade will next take on Jamshedpur FC in their sixth home fixture at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan on January 13, Friday.