I-League: Shivajians pile misery on East Bengal

KOLKATA: There is no end to East Bengal's woes. The

DSK Shivajians

rubbed salt into their rivals' raw wounds by pulling off a solitary goal win over Trevor Morgan's misfiring brigade at the Barasat stadium on Sunday. The visiting team from Pune, who had lost the first leg 1-2, not only avenged that loss but also snuffed out East Bengal's flickering I-League title hopes.

Mawinhmingthanga, nicknamed 'Jerry', scored the only goal of the match in the 28th minute, beating goalkeeper Subhashis Roy Chowdhury with a beautifully-executed header, condemning the home team to their fourth successive loss in this campaign.

Mohun Bagan and

Aizawl FC

, having won their respective matches on Saturday, will face-off in Aizawl next Saturday in what will be a virtual championship decider. Morgan, who has endured the brunt of the fans ire following East Bengal's 1-2 loss to arch-rivals Mohun Bagan last Sunday, was hoping that his players would turn things around and salvage some pride by taming Shivajians in front of the red-and-gold fans. Unfortunately, his team failed on both counts.

East Bengal's poor run in the I-League has hurt their image so much that less than 500 fans -less than 10 per cent of the stadium's capacity -turned up for the game. They ended up witnessing another woeful display from their team that was clearly lacking in self-belief. East Bengal remained rooted on 27 points from 16 matches. "It's very difficult to motivate players under these circumstances," Morgan said.

Mumbai share spoils with Chennai City

Mumbai City FC played a goalless draw with Chennai City in an I-League encounter at the Cooperage Ground here on Sunday.

Mumbai FC

started the match on the front foot, as Chennai City looked marooned in their own half during the opening 10 minutes, goalkeeper

Laxmikant Kattimani

almost outside his penalty box and dictating play.

Reagan Singh

right back for the men in yellow played a dangerous cross, but Anderson Silva couldn't manage to guide the ball on target.