East Bengal steamroll Chennai to stay in I-League title race

Representational pictureVeteran Nigerian striker Dudu Omagbemi scored four goals as East Bengal crushed Chennai City FC 71 here on Saturday to keep themselves firmly in contention for the ILeague title Dudu signed by the East Bengal in the January transfer window notched up the first hattrick of the season 32nd 49th 56th 61st minutes as Syrian midfielder Mahmoud Al Amna 20th and substitute Gabriel Fernandes 84th also got on the scoresheetDefender Dharmaraj Ravanan scored an own goal 23rd in the first half as the visitors could never recover from the early setback and were left chasing shadows for most of the gameSubstitute Mashoor Shereef Thangalakath netted a consolation goal for Chennai a minute after coming on in the 59th minute at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati KriranganThis is the highest margin of victory in the league this season propelling East Bengal 29 points from 16 games to the second position ahead of Minerva Punjab FC 29 points from 15 games on better headtohead recordEast Bengal will next travel to Shillong to take on Shillong Lajong FC before finishing their league engagements with a crunch tie against table toppers Neroca FC at home on March 8Chennai placed eighth in the tenteam table with 16 points have one more match to go against Minerva on March 2East Bengal coach Khalid Jamil made four changes to the side that lost to Gokulam Kerala FC 12 Gurwinder Singh for Arnab Mondal was an enforced one but Samad Ali Mallick Yami Longvah and Laldanmawia Ralte were left outMehtab Singh and Brandon Vanlalremdika were ushered in as Ansumana Kromah made his first start for the Red and GoldsThe hints of fireworks began early for the home side Kromah and Al Amna were crowded in the opposition box after Mehtab Singh did well to send in a square but the Chennai defence held on wellThat did not remain for long as backline cracked for good in the 20th minuteBrandon chased Michael Soosairaj in his own half to intercept and then Lalramchullovas long ball for Mahmoud Al Amna saw Veniamin Shumeiko and Edwin Vanspaul falter Goalkeeper Kabir Thaufiq did his best to make a double save but in the end the Syrian came out on top to break the deadlock in the third attemptThree minutes later there was more misery for the Chennai Al Amna released Chullova on the left and the former Aizawl FC man cut in to send a lowcross only for Dharmaraj to send the ball into his own netAway team coach V Soundararajan refused to be on the backfoot after shipping in two goals as he sacrificed winger Antony Beautin for an extra striker in JeanMichael JoachimHowever that only played to the detriment of the side looking to move up the table as defensive errors cost Soundararajan again Mehtab Singh a lively addition on the right flank sent a diagonal ball and Dudu slotted it into an empty net with the Chennai goalkeeper off his lineAfter the change of ends the story was all the same as the 44yearold Dudu brought up his hattrick with two goals inside seven minutes making the scoreline 50 in favour of the hosts with Dharmaraj Ravana being at fault for both of themThe introduction of Mashoor Shereef Thangalakath worked wonders for the team wearing sky blue as he scored the consolation of the afternoon within sixty seconds of him being on the pitchHowever Dudu replied back in another couple of minutes to stem any sort of comeback hopes from Chennai CityAnsumana Kromah who set up a couple of goals tried his luck but did not find much of it when it came to finding the back of the net He though helped out Gabriel Fernandes with an assist for the Goans first goal of the season in only his first appearance at home this ILeague seasonCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever