East Bengal edge past Pune FC 3-2

Pune, April 11: In a goal-feast at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex here on Saturday, East Bengal emerged victorious as they edged past Pune FC 3-2 in a hard-fought I-League contest. The Nigerian duo of Ranti Martins and Dudu Omagbemi scored one each and Harmanjot Singh Khabra scored the other for the visitors while Matthew Gonsalves and Montenegrin striker Darko Nikac found the back of the net for Pune.

Martins broke the deadlock 18 minutes into the game as he latched onto a cross inside the rival pelty area and finished past the custodian to give his side the lead. Gonsalves equalized for the home team 19 minutes later as he sent it a hopeful ball into the box, and Abhijit Mondal, the East Bengal custodian made a mess of it trying to punch the ball away but the sphere somehow found the back of the net.

East Bengal are fifth on the table with 19 points from 12 games, whereas Pune are fourth with 20 points from 13 games. IANS