Bengaluru FC started their Indian Super League campaign with a 1-0 win over East Bengal at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Saturday. Vinith Venkatesh’s solitary goal was the difference between the two teams.
It was a very cagey start from both sides with plenty of tackles flying in, mostly to disrupt the momentum. Nandha Kumar was guilty of a mis-timed challenge in the third minute when he brought down Suresh Wangjam. The East Bengal FC winger received a yellow card for his reckless tackle. Despite the caution, tackles kept flying as Lalchungnunga and later Hector Yuste also joined Nandha into the referee’s book.
Both teams eventually started creating chances at scoring.
The game saw it’s first and only goal scored in the 25th minute.
Edgar Mendez played a low pass towards Vinith who was waiting unmarked on the right side of the box. He controlled with a first touch before hitting a low, tight-angled shot towards the far post to score.
The second half saw more of the same aggressive football between the two teams with many challenges flying in, especially in the middle of the park.
East Bengal’s hopes of picking up a point from the match took a hit when Lalchungnunga was given marching orders in the 87th minute following a second yellow card for a poor challenge on Williams.