Super Cup 2018: Sunil Chhetri nets brace as Bengaluru FC beat East Bengal 4-1 in title clash

Bhubaneswar: Skipper Sunil Chhetri led from the front with double strikes as Bengaluru FC came back from a goal down to notch up a dominating 4-1 win over ten-man East Bengal in the final to claim the inaugural Hero Super Cup trophy on Friday. Two goals from Chhetri and one each from Rahul Bheke and Nicolas Fedor (Miku) ensured that the early lead taken by East Bengal through Kromah did not stop their march to victory at the Kalinga Stadium. [caption id=“attachment_4440209” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Bengaluru FC came back from a goal down to win the inaugural Super Cup. Image courtesy: Twitter/ @bengalurufc[/caption] Bengaluru made a positive start and tried to wrest control of the midfield early. Off a counter-attack, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Bengaluru FC goalkeeper, got the first booking of the match when Kromah broke free and Gurpreet brought him down just outside the Bengaluru box. The game came to life in the 28th minute when East Bengal took the lead quite against the run of play. Off the fourth East Bengal corner which was fisted away by Gurpreet, Kromah pulled off a lobbed back volley from inside the box which went in despite Erik Partalau’s valiant attempt to keep it out. BFC equalised in the 39th minute when Rahul scored against his former Club by heading in a corner. Minutes before the interval, East Bengal were reduced to 10-men when Samad Ali Mallick was red-carded for a rough tackle on rival defender Subhashish Bose. Changing over, East Bengal started the second half in a positive fashion. Kromah even managed to put the ball into the rival net but the flag had gone up earlier. Gurpreet then rose to the occasion keeping off an Al Amna free-kick and the lanky custodian also thwarted a powerful Ladanmawia Ralte pile-driver. However, the game changed with the introduction of Toni Dovale in the 61st minute in place of Erik Paartalu for Bengaluru FC. Dovale took control playing in tandem with Miku and Victor Perez. Soon BFC surged into the lead in the 68th minute when Gurwinder Singh handled the ball off a corner and the referee pointed to the spot from which Chhetri gleefully converted. Three minutes later, in the 71st minute, a Dovale-Perez combo from midfield found Miku inside the box, who side-stepped his marker and blasted it in. Deservedly, the skipper finished it off in the 90th minute, when off an Udanta cross, Chhetri rose above Lalram Chullova in the East Bengal defence to head it in. Chhetri was declared the Hero of the match, while Miku was declared the Hero of the Tournament.