AIFF Media Team

KOLKATA: East Bengal FC’s campaign in the AFC Champions League Two Preliminary Stage suffered an early end when they went down to Turkmenistan’s Altyn Asyr FC 2-3 at the floodlit Yuba Bharati Kriangan on Wednesday, August 14, 2024. East Bengal will now feature in the AFC Challenge League Group Stage.

Played under overcast conditions in front of a sizeable home crowd, the visitors had the last laugh despite trailing by a sixth-minute goal. They recovered quickly to pump in two goals to lead 2-1 at the half time and struck once more in the second before East Bengal could reduce the margin to give the scoreline a respectable look.

East Bengal, on the other hand, disappointed their supporters despite a bright start. Pitted against a side, who boast of no foreign player in the squad and are last season's runners-up of the Yokary Liga, the Turkmen league, East Bengal failed to grab the chances that came their way.

After a few repeated raids at the rival goal, East Bengal took the lead when a measured cross from the left by Nandhakumar Sekar was headed in by an unmarked David Lalhlansanga with equal smartness, but woodwork prevented the ball from going in. The rebound fell to David again; this time, he didn’t commit a mistake, leaving the home fans ecstatic.

The plot, however, changed quickly. The Turkmenistan side retaliated with vigour and energy and picked up the equaliser in the 17th minute through midfielder and skipper Myrat Annayev, whose neatly executed volley left the East Bengal goalkeeper Prabhsukhan Singh Gill stranded.

Altyn Asyr FC struck again 11 minutes later. Attacker Nurmyradov Selim’s towering presence had the East Bengal defence in deep trouble on more than one occasion and his looping free kick from outside the area brooked no defence as Gill was caught napping.

Once in control of the match, the Turkmenistan side put further pressure in the second half and increased the lead within seven minutes after the change of ends when Mihail Titov tapped in from close on the left after Annayev’s cross from the right found him correctly.

Not to be outdone, East Bengal made all efforts to make a comeback and finally could reduce the margin in the 59th minute when Saul Crespo zig-zagged his way into the box and slammed in with a right footer that got the fans back on their feet with renewed hopes. The equaliser, however, remained elusive.