ISL: Hyderabad’s late strike denies East Bengal full points in hard-fought draw

Representational image. Pic/iStock

Manoj Mohammed scored in the 90th minute as former winners Hyderabad FC fought back to hold East Bengal FC to a 1-1 draw in the Indian Super League (ISL) 2024-25 at the G.M.C. Balayogi Athletic Stadium here on Saturday evening.

The home side maintained 56.7% of the possession and produced a greater passing accuracy of 87% as opposed to the 74% of East Bengal. However, they had to wait right until the 90th-minute mark to win a point from this match against the Red & Gold Brigade which has won their last two matches on a trot.

Hyderabad FC made the first move as the proceedings kicked off, as the duo of Isaac Vanmalsawma and Joseph Sunny interlinked in the final third after two minutes to test the East Bengal FC defence. Issac's pass was laid out for Joseph outside the box, but, instead of engaging in further build-up, the latter attempted a shot from a distance that was blocked in time.

The home side kept the pressure up in the following few minutes, compelling Hijazi Maher to concede a corner in the 11th minute. As a consequence of that set piece, Manoj Mohammad pulled off an aerial effort from the centre of the 18-yard box that missed the target on the right side.

What followed thereafter was a guarded affair with neither of the two sides being able to produce clear-cut chances. There was a spate of corners and free-kicks being won, but nothing substantial came out of those moves, until Edmilson Correia dazzled on the left side of the 18-yard box after receiving a pass from Isaac in the 41st minute, adjusted his movement, and thundered a shot that missed hitting the woodwork by a whisker on the right side.

Two minutes into the second half, Correia again sprang into action, deftly receiving a lateral delivery in the centre of the box from Cy Goddard, but shot it off target on the right side despite being in close distance from the goal.

It took a fantastic free-kick from Cleiton Silva in the 64th minute to create the move that broke the deadlock in this match. Dimitrios Diamantakos won a foul and Silva stepped up on the ball and discharged an impressive delivery that smashed the crossbar, only to find Jeakson Singh pounce upon the rebound and bundle it into the centre of the net to get the visitors ahead, arguably against the run of momentum.

Hyderabad FC dug deep in the game though, making some compelling moves to find the equaliser. Eventually, it required some quick thinking from Correia as late as the 90th-minute mark to drag his side back after the setback they received from Jeakson's goal. Hyderabad FC had the duo of Lenny Rodrigues and Devendra Murgaonkar coming in as substitutes in the 85th minute and fresh legs certainly swayed the game in their favour, with Murgaonkar making an instant impact through an outside-of-the-box shot that was set up for him by Abdul Rabeeh.

It didn't land on target but showed that the home side was getting on the offensive before Correia trusted Manoj by passing the ball to him on the left side of the box when he had an opportunity to bury the goal to cap off a quick attacking move. Manoj repaid the faith by holding his composure and dispatching the ball into the bottom right corner to rescue a point for his side from this game.

Hyderabad FC will play their next game against Mohun Bagan Super Giant on January 2 while East Bengal FC will clash against Mumbai City FC on January 6.

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