It ended all square between East Bengal and Jamshedpur FC as the spoils were shared at the Tilak Maidan Stadium in Goa. Both teams playing in their opening match showed pragmatic approach as the affair ended with scoreline reading 1-1. Determined to go do better this season, both teams came up with spring in their steps to keep aside their disappointing performance from last season.
The Indian Super League (ISL) has been scheduled to take place in Goa due to Covid-19. Playing as the home side, East Bengal had lost three consecutive matches at the back end of last season showed resilience. In the 18th minute of the match Nerijus Valskis scored an own goal off a corner to give East Bengal the lead. The chaos in the box was initially cleared by the Jamshedpur goalkeeper Rehenesh TP, but Franjo Prce got the initial touch in the box as the deflected effort ended up at the back of the net.
The team from the steel city of Jharkhand wasn’t sitting quite as they came back with attacks of their own. They had good chances before the half-time but failed to convert those, Borris Singh was the pick of the pack. Enjoying more than 50 per cent possession, their attacking threat paid dividends in first-half stoppage time as defender Peter Hartley equalised for Jamshedpur in the third minute of stoppage time.
Owen Coyle’s Jamshedpur enjoyed more possession in second half and mustered 18 shots at East Bengal’s goal with only three on target. However, chances were few and far between for both the side in second half. In the end, both teams were happy with the point and started the new campaign on positive note. Jamshedpur next are in action on November 26 against local team FC Goa, while East Bengal take on arch-rivals ATK Mohun Bengal in Bengal derby.
