East Bengal vs Odisha FC – Second-half blitz helps Odisha to pick up another comeback victory against East Bengal: There is no easy way for Odisha FC in this edition of Hero Indian Super League as the Juggernauts overcame a two-goal deficit, scoring four past East Bengal at the iconic Yuva Bharati Krirangan Stadium. It was their third comeback victory of this season (Jamshedpur FC, Kerala Blasters). Haokip opened the scoring midway through the first half, while Naorem Mahesh doubled the lead just before the break. Odisha FC head coach Josep Gombau made four substitutions, which led to an emphatic display scoring 4 goals in a span of 29 minutes to pick up a well-deserved victory.
East Bengal vs Odisha FC
Both teams tweaked their line-up in this clash. Pritam Singh replaced injured Jerry, while the visitors dropped Denechandra and Mawihmingthanga with Gahlot and Isaac replacing them. Both teams started the game cautiously as the battles were mainly fought at the center of the field. Eventually, East Bengal broke the deadlock through Semboi Haokip who tapped the ball following a perfect lay-down by VP Suhair. Credit must be given to Jordan who nailed a through pass to Suhair opening up the defense. 12 minutes later, Naorem Mahesh doubled the lead with a similar kind of goal. East Bengal had a two-goal cushion at the break.
As mentioned earlier, Gombau made four changes at halftime, which paid dividends a couple of minutes later. Substitute Pedro netted the ball twice to restore parity within 3 minutes of the second half. The game opened up after that as both teams went attacking. However, the shell-shocked East Bengal defense was found wanting as Jerry scored from an easy header at the far post to go in front. The Juggernauts established a two-goal cushion after Crespo’s long diagonal found Nandhakumar on the left flank. The winger beat substitute Sarthak before smashing in Odisha’s fourth and final goal of the night from a tight angle in the 76th minute.
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