East Bengal beat Minerva in I-League tie

Barasat (West Bengal) April 23 (IANS) East Bengal defeated Minerva Punjab FC 3-1 in an I-League encounter at the Barasat District Sports Stadium here on Sunday.

East Bengal strikers Wedson Anselme (31st minute) and Robin Singh (52nd) struck on either side of the break before Bikash Jairu (90th) scored the best goal of the match in the closing stages as the Kolkata giants claimed victory in front of their home crowd.

The visitors had created several chances throughout the match but were let down repeatedly by poor finishing.

They finaly managed to breach the East Bengal citadel in the dying seconds when Krishna Pandit (90+4) scored with virtually the last kick of the game.

East Bengal thus cemented their hold on the third place in the league table with 30 points from 17 matches.

Minerva are now in real danger of relegation as they slipped one spot to the bottom of the 10-team ladder. The team from Punjab remains on 12 points the same as ninth placed Mumbai FC but have a poorer goal difference.

--IANS
ajb/vt