Vasco, Feb 28: NorthEast United played a 1-1 draw in their final league game of the season against fellow strugglers SC East Bengal in the Indian Super League (ISL) match at the Tilak Maidan Stadium here on Monday.
Goals from Marco Sahanek and Antonio Perosevic managed to split the points either way as Khalid Jamil’s men ended the season with only three wins.
As for SC East Bengal, their winless run extended to seven matches.
Marco Sahanek (45+1’) scored his first goal for NorthEast United to give them the lead in the first half but the equaliser came through Antonio Perosevic (55’ P) who scored from a precise penalty.
Two good chances fell SC East Bengal’s way in the early stages with Lalrinliana Hnamte making the goalkeeper pull off a good save and Mahesh Naorem Singh hitting the crossbar from long-range.
NorthEast United survived another scare after the half-hour mark as a volley by Perosevic missed the target by a whisker.
However, it was the Highlanders that took the lead just a minute before the halftime whistle.
A header from Deshorn Brown hit the left post and fell kindly to Sahanek who made no mistake and buried his left-footed shot into the bottom-right corner.
Thanks to that goal, NorthEast United went into the break with their noses in front.
The second half did not begin according to plan for Jamil and co as Patrick Flottmann’s push on Fran Sota during an aerial battle was deemed as a foul in the box, leading to a penalty.
Perosevic scored the equaliser from the penalty spot, after sending Mirshad Michu towards the wrong way.
Marcelinho came off the bench for NorthEast United to inject some energy in the final third and combined with Suhair but the latter’s volley was expertly punched away by Sankar Roy in goal.
Four minutes were added for stoppages but neither team had the cutting edge to score the winner in the end.
With nothing to separate the teams, the game ended in a draw, much to the disappointment for both sets of players.
East Bengal will pull the curtains on their season by playing Bengaluru FC at the Tilak Maidan Stadium on Saturday while NorthEast’s campaign has come to an end.
NorthEast United, last season’s semi-finalist, ended the campaign with 14 points from 20 games, three points more than SC East Bengal who can overtake the Higlanders with a win on Saturday. (UNI)
