ISL: Hyderabad edge out EB 3-2

This picture has been used for representational purposes

Aridane Santana struck twice in less than a minute to script Hyderabad FC's thrilling 3-2 win over SC East Bengal in an Indian Super League match here on Tuesday. Santana's twin burst came in the 56th minute after SC East Bengal scored their first ever ISL goal through Jacques Maghoma in the 26th minute. There was no looking back for Hyderabad after that as they struck a third goal in the 68th minute with Liston Colaco making a terrific run to set it up for Halicharan Narzary to find the back of the net. But there was more drama in store as Maghoma too completed a brace from Anthony Pilkington's freekick to reduce the margin in the 81st minute.

The red-and-gold pressed hard for an equaliser but Hyderabad remained solid in their defence to thwart all the attacks led by Pilkington and Maghoma. SC East Bengal thus suffered their fourth defeat from five matches to remain at the bottom of the table with one point. The Manuel Marquez-coached Hyderabad FC, on the other hand, remained unbeaten from five matches (nine points) to be placed at fifth place in the 11-team standings. Robbie Fowler-coached SCEB's prolonged wait for their first ISL goal was finally over in the 26th minute of their fifth match when their Congolese recruit Maghoma scoring from a brilliant team passing by Anthony Pilkington and Matti Steinmann. The Nizams looked like a better team in the first-half but it clearly belonged to the red-and-gold with goalkeeper Debjit Majumder denying Santana's spot kick. But all hell broke loose after the changeover, as the Spanish centre forward struck twice in the 56th minute mark to snatch the lead.

Santana first utilised Mohammed Yasir's freekick with a brilliant header to find the back of the net. And before SCEB could settle down, Santana fired in a second with Yasir once again making the move from the centre before Liston Colaco set it up for the Spaniard to bring up his brace and give his team the lead. Narzary made it 3-1 with a brilliant attack initiated by Colaco from the left flank as he showed fine composure by twisting and turning to beat the defenders and set it up for the fellow Indian with a simple tap-in. Earlier, with 10 seconds before the interval, SC East Bengal's Sehnaj Singh pulled down Mohammed Yasir inside the box with a tackle from behind. But Debjit Majumder made stunning save, diving full to his right to deny Santana's cracking spot kick. The Nizams, however, returned strongly in the second half with Santana's brace to collect full points and piled on SCEB's misery.

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