Mohun Bagan SG and East Bengal were locked 0-0 until the 85th minute.
From there until the end of the match 13 minutes later, there was a goal for East Bengal (and a celebration like they had won the league) an equaliser for Bagan, Bipin Singh made a mess of a goalscoring chance for the umpteenth time, his goalkeeper Prabhsukhan Gill made an astonishing save with his left foot and East Bengal scorer Edmund Lalrindika received a red card. All in front of a Salt Lake Stadium packed to the rafters and feeling every second of the game. One would be forgiven for thinking that Indian football and the Indian Super League (ISL) was thriving if this match on Sunday was their introduction to this world.
In the end, the score was 1-1, the best possible result for the neutrals, and fans of Mumbai City and Punjab FC, the two other frontrunners for the title. It means the league winners will now be confirmed only on the final day of the season on Thursday. For now, East Bengal are sitting top of the table ahead of Bagan due t to their superior goal difference, with both sides on on 23 points.
Mohun Bagan started on the front foot, hogging the ball the first five minutes with forwards Sahal Abdul Samad, Manvir Singh, Liston Colaco and Manvir Singh all hovering around the East Bengal box. However, it also meant that their defence were caught out whenever the Red and Golds attacked and East Bengal also looked fairly comfortable soaking up the pressure. Prabhsukhan Gill started the first scare for Bagan, with a long ball that found PV Vishnu with sniper-like precision and put him through on goal. However, he took a tad bit too long to take the shot, allowing Bagan custodian Vishal Kaith to neutralise the chance.
And that was pretty much the story of the night for East Bengal, particularly in the first half. Their forwards suffered from a problem of thinking slightly more than required when inside the box, and taking rather wayward shots from outside it.
Wasteful first half for East Bengal
Bipin Singh was guilty of this more often than not. He squandered a golden opportunity in the 21st minute by trying to find the right angle for a shot, when either a first-time attempt or a square pass to Anton Sojberg, who himself had hit the post from distance a few minutes earlier, were the better options. At the other end, Anirudh Thapa nearly put Bagan ahead in the 24th minute with a volley but Gill was equal to the task.
Sergio Lobera brought on Jason Cummings, Robson Robinho and Dimitrios Petratos in the second half, which meant that Bagan also had to bring on an Indian defender, in keeping with the league rules. Mehtab Singh, who hasn’t been in the best of form this year, took the pitch. When the decisive moment came in the 85th minute, it was Mehtab that Edmund beat while rushing forward with the ball threaded through to him expertly by Miguel Figueira. Unlike his teammates, Edmund took the shot first time on the run and beat Kaith.
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Cue pandemonium. Off came his shirt, he took off the corner flag, hung it on the pole and planted it on the pitch. But it was only the 85th minute and this was Bagan, a side who knows a thing or two about staying calm under pressure.
Sure enough, the equaliser came five minutes later, with Cummings rushing at the near post and heading in a corner kick from Petratos.
Jamie Maclaren came as close as it gets to scoring the winner amid the chaos that followed but Gill pulled off a truly spectacular save in the 97th minute to keep things level.
There are still a lot of permutations but broadly speaking, East Bengal will win the title if they beat Inter Kashi on the final match day on Thursday. The best way for Bagan to win the match is for them to beat Sporting Club Delhi and East Bengal lose to Kashi. If both sides win, Bagan will have to overturn East Bengal’s superior goal difference, which seems unlikely. If both sides fail to win, the title will go to either Punjab or Mumbai City, who face each other on Thursday.
