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Trevor Morgan’s side handed a footballing lesson to HAL SC at the Bangalore Stadium on Wednesday as they romped to a 8-1 victory.
Tolgay Ozbey was the star of the day with four goals with the home side lacking cohesion in their own half.
East Bengal started the game hoping to put the defeat against their arch rivals last Sunday behind as they made their attacking intentions known.
In the seventh minute, a back-pass from Adeola saw goalkeeper Amar Deb take a touch too many which allowed Robin Singh to score the opening goal.
Robert Lalthalmuana got the timing of his tackle wrong as he fouled Hamza inside the box. The Nigerian sent Gurpreet Sandhu the wrong way to make it 1-1.
It was the away side who looked more threatening and seemed at ease as the game progressed. From a Penn free-kick, Robin Singh sent the header towards the backpost where Okpara failed to make the most of the opportunity in the 19th minute.
A few minutes later, he made amends with a left footer from inside the box to put his side in the lead again. Sanju Pradhan had a shy on goal from distance which missed the target by a whisker.
Okpara scored his second of the day from a Robert cross from the left with a cracking shot which left the goalkeeper no chance whatsoever.
In the closing stages of the first session, HAL had a couple of chances but they couldn’t dispatch the ball home.
Tolgay Ozbey making his return after the one-match suspension got his name on the scoresheet in the second half.
Hamza continued his marauding runs as he looked to get his side back on track which give the East Bengal defense something to think about.
Tolgay cut inside from the left and saw his left footed shot find the back of the net which further rubbed salt to HAL’s miseries.
HAL’s defense and midfield left too much space for their opposition to operate and never really marked them well.
The sixth goal of East Bengal was a classic example of the above as Tolgay coolly controlled a pass from his own half and guided past the goalkeeper to complete his hat-trick.
Substitute Baljit Sahni joined the party as he guided the cross from Tolgay Ozbey in the 74th minute.
Tolgay scored his fourth as HAL reserved their worst performance against the Red and Gold’s.
