Fijian captain Roy Krishna’s Odisha FC was beaten 3-2 in extra time by East Bengal in the Super Cup final at the Kalinga Stadium early today in India.
Captain Cleiton Silva sparked the celebrations with a fantastic finish to help East Bengal prevail over the holders and claim its maiden Super Cup crown.
Krishna started the thrilling and exciting contest which had the two teams locked 2-2 at the end of regulation time.
The intensity of the encounter also saw two red card expulsions bringing the teams down to 10 men each.
Finally it was left to Cleiton to find the decider which he did in the 111th minute to bring an end to a 12-year wait for a national club title.
Odisha FC found the goal at the right moment to shift the game in its favour in the 39th minute as forward Diego Mauricio put the hosts up.
East Bengal coach Carles Cuadrat made two big changes after the break introducing the two national team players Naorem Mahesh Singh and Chnungunga.
The ploy seemed to work well as Naorem set up a defence-splitting pass to release Nandhakumar Sekar in the 52nd minute.
The speedster ran deep and dribbled past the Odisha goalkeeper Mawia Ralte to slot home the equaliser.
East Bengal found the lead quickly off a 60th penalty that was converted by Saul Crespo.
Odisha lost defender Mourtada Fall to a red card for a foul on Borja Herrera.
East Bengal seemed to be cruising toward a win but a penalty in the last minute of the injury-time brought Odisha back in the match.
Ahmed Jahouh scored from a panenka kick to net the goal and make it 2-2.
There was more to happen as East Bengal was reduced to 10 men losing its midfielder Souvik Chakrabarti who received his second booking and two teams were back on level terms in the count of personnel and goals.
