East Bengal FC go down 1-2 to Jamshedpur FC at home

In their first home match of 2023, East Bengal FC lost 1-2 against Jamshedpur FC despite taking a 12th minute lead, courtesy Cleiton Silva.

EBFC Head Coach Stephen Constantine made 3 changes to the starting XI as Sarthak Golui, V.P. Suhair and Charis Kyriakou replaced Jerry Lalrinzuala, Himanshu Jangra and Jordan O’Doherty. It was Kyriacou’s first game as East Bengal captain.

The Red & Gold brigade once again broke the deadlock via Cleiton’s 9th goal in the ongoing Hero ISL. Naorem Mahesh Singh’s shot was saved by the opposition goalkeeper Vishal Yadav, but the deflection made the ball come right in front of Cleiton, who pounced on the goal-scoring opportunity. Cleiton is currently the leading scorer in the tournament.

Just around the 17th minute, Cleiton had a chance to double the lead. The 35-year-old took a brilliant curling free-kick, but it went straight into the hands of the opposition custodian.

Around the 34th minute, Cleiton tried scoring from a distance, but it went a little wide of target. The Red & Golds went into the half-time break with a 1-0 lead.

However, the second half didn’t pan out as the Red & Gold brigade would have liked. Around the 60th minute, Jamshedpur FC made 3 changes that helped them regain their lost momentum. The opposition netted their first goal in the 61st minute and it was scored by Harry Sawyer.

Around the 68th minute, there was an inch-perfect through ball from Sarthak Golui. The ball was received by Cleiton after he ran for a bit, and even though he did well to dribble past the goalkeeper, he failed to put his side ahead.

In the 85th minute, Sawyer played out the ball to Germanpreet Singh on the right flank, and the midfielder’s pin-point cross was nodded in by Ritwik Das. East Bengal FC will next host reigning Hero ISL champions Hyderabad FC on January 20 at the VYBK.