MARGAO: A brilliant performance with a five-goal thriller including hat-trick by unstoppable Nigerian Ranti Martins saw East Bengal floor Dempo Sports Club 5-1 in an eight round match of Hero I-League at Nehru Stadium, Fatorda, on Sunday.
Hero-of-the-Match Ranti Martins scored two goals before lemon break and three in the second half while Dempo Sports Club had a consolation penalty scored by Carlos Hernandez.
The host made three changes while the visitors remained unchanged. Arthur Papas rested strikers Germanpreet Singh and Tolgay Ozbey along with midfielder Alwyn George and played Mandar Rao Desai, Jewel Raja and Carlos Hernandez instead.
The action got underway in overcast conditions as East Bengal came out the brighter of the two sides and opened the scoring as early in the first minute. Ranti Martins was the goal-scorer for Eelco Schattorie’s side as Robert Lalthlamuana linked up with the striker who squared it for partner Dudu Omagbemi in the middle. His shot was saved by Laxmikant Kattimani but fell back to Ranti who made no mistake in converting.
Dempo immediately tried to hit back through Carlos Hernandez but to no avail as the game started to follow a more end-to-end trend.
But much to the dismay of coach Arthur Papas and his side, Ranti made it 2-0 in the 13 minute. Dempo fell asleep defensively yet again as Mohammed Rafique and Robert combined this time to find Ranti in the box, who slotted home with ease to notch up an early brace as Fulganzo Cardozo and Haroon Amiri were caught napping for the home side.
There was then some slight trouble for the visitors in the 19th minute from the corner flags. Clifford Miranda’s set-piece was first tipped over the bar by Abhijit Mondal following which Hernandez’s corner from the other side went out off the post.
A half-chance followed a minute later for the omnipresent Ranti as he failed to make the most of Cardozo’s flick from a Robert cross that fortuitously fell at his feet.
With the half-hour mark approaching though, Dempo caught a break with a penalty awarded for Deepak Mondal’s illegal tackle on Francis Fernandes following goal-keeper Abhijit’s punch on Mandar’s corner kick. Carlos Hernandez stepped up in the 28th minute and made no mistake in halving the deficit.
The Dempo goal-scorer then missed a glorious chance in 35th minute to draw his side level as he headed a Miranda cross straight into the grateful arms of Abhijit in the East Bengal goal. At the other end Dudu tried toe-poking an effort past Kattimani but the latter saved it effectively.
Then with a minute of normal first-half time remaining, both sides had some great chances to add to their tallies.
Firstly, Jewel Raja failed to connect for the host after Francis had done well to chest Nirmal Chhetri’s cross from the right. As for the Red and Golds, Ranti failed to secure a first-half hat-trick as Dudu’s pass for him following Rowilson Rodrigues; miss pass was just a bit ahead of the Nigerian.
That brought the action from the first period to close with East Bengal holding a one-goal advantage.
Dempo came out strongly in the second-half as Rowilson drew a good save out of Abhijit at the far post from Hernandez’s chip into the box. But much against the run of play East Bengal restored their two-goal cushion on the hour mark.
It was Ranti’s crowning moment with a hat-trick which he notched up from the penalty spot following Rowilson’s foul on Dudu inside the box. Schattorie’s side weren’t complaining though as the former Dempo striker sent Kattimani the wrong way to score his third of the match in the 60th minute.
Papas left with no choice but to react as he threw on Holicharan Narzary for veteran Miranda. Schattorie too was forced into a change as Raju Gaikwad came on for Gurwinder Singh, who seemed to be carrying a knock.
The change for the host had no effect as Dempo’s defence and this time goal-keeper too switched off completely as Ranti scored his fourth in the 64th minute. A long ball saw the striker get the better of Cardozo and Amiri yet again as he bamboozled Kattimani with an audacious chip from outside the box that nestled into the back of the net.
A hapless Carlos Hernandez then came off for Alwyn George in the 70th minute as Mehtab Hossain made way for striker Leo Bertos for Schattorie’s wards in the 75th minute. The Dutch coach was clearly looking for more goals with the change in his first I-League game back in charge.
The youngster Vinit Rai came on for Jewel Raja with the game devoid of all its pace at this point.
The star of the show Ranti brought some of that pace back in the 86th minute with a whopping fifth goal. The striker was allowed to just waltz through into the Dempo box after collecting a long ball on the left, with his final shot trickling in after getting a touch from Kattimani.
