New Delhi: It was the moment Kingfisher East Bengal waited for long. The frustration of losing the I-League and the Federation Cup where they finished runners-up to Salgaocar SC brought out the best in red-and-gold in the nerve-wrecking never-ending sudden death.

The agony of not winning anything for long was put to rest as they pipped Salgaocar 9-8 in a penalty shootout to win the Super Cup at the Ambedkar Stadium. Wild celebrations broke out after Saikat Saha Roy put it past a stubborn Karanjit Singh to pocketed the ‘Winner-takes-all’ prize of Rs. 10 lakh.

The tie-break was employed after both teams were deadlocked goalless despite 90 minutes.

Tolgay Ozbey, Allan Gow, Robin Singh, Sanju Pradhan, Sushant Mathew, Khantang Paite, Nirmal Chetri, Uga Opara and Saikat Saha Roy converted for East Bengal while Chidi Edeh, Ryuji Sueoka, Rocus Lamare, Rahul Kumar, Mehrajuddin Wadoo, Francis Fernandes, Luciano Sabrosa and Tomba Singh scored for Salgaocar.

East Bengal goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh denied Jaspal Parmar while Karanjit blocked Vashum’s effort. For Salgaocar Irungbam Meetei hit the upright in sudden death.

On the surface, Trevor Morgan’s side enjoyed the better of exchanges during regulation time. Salgaocar were more on the defensive adopting a cautious attitude. They did come out of their shell but only for a brief period during the first 10 minutes of the second half.

And had not an acrobatic Karanjit Singh denied Allan Gow once in each half, East bengal would have taken the lead much earlier.

By Upender Singh