SCEB's win in their maiden ISL season came in their eighth match as they climbed to ninth place ahead of Kerala Blasters with six points, while Odisha remained winless. Everything fell in place for the Robbie Fowler-coached side from the start. Fowler made two changes to his line-up as Surchandra Singh and Sehnaj Singh were replaced by Milan Singh and Raju Gaikwad. It was the season's debutant, Gaikwad, who initiated the goal-scoring move with a nice long throw-in near the post. The ball bounced in towards the far post where Pilkington capitalised on a defensive lapse to rise above the man at the far post before calmly heading it in.

The goalkeeping, too, was spot on from Debjit Majumder who effected a couple of spectacular saves to ensure they retained their lead. Manuel Onwu directed a perfect header goalwards but Majumder averted the danger in the 17th minute. Two minutes later, Majumder was at it again, and this time he denied a Diego Mauricio header from the right side of the box. East Bengal went on to double their lead with Matti Steinmann providing the assist to Maghoma who made a powerful run and got past two OFC defenders before making a fine finish from an acute angle.

Poll

Who will win the Punjab Elections?

BJP 32.86%

AAP 41.43%

INC 25.71%

Submit

View All In Poll

Luck, too, eluded the Odisha team on more than one occasion and, in the 57th minute, Jerry's shot from an Onwu assist hit the upright. In the 61st minute, Jacob Tratt's header bounced to beat the SCEB goalkeeper Majumder but not the woodwork. Fowler pressed Enobakhare in place of Maghoma in the 73rd minute and the 22-year-old Nigerian scored on his debut in what was a fine team effort by the SCEB forwards.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever