Lalhlansanga scored twice before half-time, and two Al Shorta goals in two minutes beat East Bengal 3-2

East Bengal led Al Shorta at half-time in Kolkata, and David Lalhlansanga had scored both goals. Two minutes early in the second half undid all of it. Hussein Ali Al-Saedi equalised in the 51st minute, Kingsley Kuku put the Iraqis ahead in the 53rd, and Al Shorta held on with ten men to win 3-2 in AFC Champions League Two on Tuesday.

It leaves East Bengal on one point from two Group D games. Al Shorta have six, with two wins from two.

Lalhlansanga’s first half

The opener came in the eighth minute. East Bengal worked it down the right, Hardik Bhatt sent it in, and Lalhlansanga took the ball on his right foot, turned and finished with his left.

Al Shorta were level within six minutes. Ahmed Yahya, a defender, scored after East Bengal failed to deal with a corner. Five minutes before the break East Bengal went back in front: a free kick was saved, Mohammed Rashid back-heeled the loose ball into Lalhlansanga’s path, and his shot rolled past the keeper.

Two goals in two minutes

Al Shorta’s coach, Sami Trabelsi, brought on Cristian Barco at half-time, and the second half was barely six minutes old when Al-Saedi made it 2-2. Kuku’s winner followed two minutes later. FotMob’s match data credits Yahya with the assist for the equaliser and Barco with the one for Kuku’s goal.

East Bengal had their chance to get something back. Abdoul Madjid Moumouni, booked in the first half, picked up a second yellow card in the 76th minute, and Antonio López Habas sent on his two new foreign strikers, Aké Loba and Łukasz Zwoliński, three minutes later, with Lalhlansanga coming off. Al Shorta kept them out through four added minutes.

The numbers say East Bengal created plenty. They had nine shots on target to Al Shorta’s four, even with only 38 per cent of the ball, and Al Shorta’s goalkeeper had far more work to do than Prabhsukhan Gill at the other end. Al Shorta took their chances better, and FotMob rated Yahya its player of the match.

Five points behind with four to play

Habas had called Al Shorta the favourites in this group before kick-off, and they now have a five-point lead over East Bengal with four games to play. The top two in each group reach the round of 16, so second place is still the realistic target. Al Hussein, who drew 2-2 with East Bengal in Amman on 16 September, play Al-Seeb in Oman later on Tuesday.

East Bengal’s next ACL Two game is away to Al-Seeb on 27 October. Before that comes the start of their ISL season, against Churchill Brothers on Sunday.

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