Leading 1-0 from the first leg, East Bengal drew their away leg versus Indonesian side Semen Padang 1-1. East Bengal progressed to their maiden AFC semis wining 2-1 on aggregate.
Final Score: Semen Padang 1
Kingfisher East Bengal 1
James Moga turned super-sub in the 79th minute as Indian giants Kingfisher East Bengal beat Indonesia's Semen Padang 2-1 on aggregate at the GOR Haji Agus Salim stadium to enter the semifinals of the AFC CUP on Tuesday. Leading 1-0 from the first leg clash at home, East Bengal came back from a goal down for a 1-1 draw and maintain their unbeaten record in the tournament.
Playing in front of a packed home crowd The Indonesian side dominated much of the first half and were gifted a goal in the 23rd minute. East Bengal keep Gurpreet Singh Sandhu miscued his goal kick and the ball landed straight at the feet of Edward Wilson. The Padang striker made no mistake to help the home team level the tie on aggregate. After a few minutes of back-and-forth action, East Bengal suffered another blow when star player Ryuji Sueoka went down with an injury. The Japanese forward was stretchered off to be replaced by James Moga. Padang's Vendry Mofu had a glorious chance to put his side in front at the end of the first half but couldn't direct his point-blank header past Gurpreet.
For Joaquim Abranches and Abhijit Mondal, the success was sweeter as they were also part of the Dempo squad that had played in the semi-finals of the 2nd tier inter-continental club competition a few years ago. Dempo till now were the only Indian football club to have made the last-four of the AFC Cup.
Photo Coutresy: WSG
The heat at the GOR Haji Agus Salim stadium took a toll on both sides in the second half. But it was East Bengal who found that extra burst of energy to put the tie beyond the hosts. Baljit Sahni crossed from the right wing and substitute Moga directed a bullet header past Padang goalkeeper Jandia Putra (1-1) and made the equaliser in the 78th minute. With East Bengal leading 2-1 on aggregate, Semen Padang needed to score two goals in the last 10 minutes. Despite the home teams' best efforts, East Bengal held on to record a memorable win. They will next face Kuwait Sports Club in the semis.
Goan heavyweights Dempo had qualified for the AFC Cup semifinals in 2008.East Bengal’s previous best show in the AFC Cup was in 2004 when Subhas Bhowmick guided the side to the quarter-finals.
After ending the match The East Bengal bench was the target of football hooligans at the Haji Agus Salim Stadium in Padang. Bottles and crackers were thrown at the players after East Bengal by the supporter of defeated the local favourite Semen Padang. However, the joy of qualifying for the last-four stage of Asia's premier club tournament was just too overwhelming.
East Bengal XI: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, T.Naoba Singh, Arnab Mondal, Uga Okpara, Robert Lalthalmuana (Baljit Sahni), Mehtab Hossein, Ryuji Sueoka (James Moga-43'), Saumik Dey, Joaquim Abranches (Gurwinder Singh-80'), Lalrindika Ralte, Chidi Edeh.
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