Sporting Bengal Utd vs Basildon Utd (Essex senior league cup semi-final) – Mile End stadium, East London
Final score: 2-1 (A.E.T)
Sporting Bengal made history as they fought back to reach the final of the Essex senior league cup. On an epic night where there was drama and tension in abundance Bengal overcame Basildon to seal their place in the final.
Bengal started the stronger of the two teams with their intricate passing moves in midfield bamboozling Basildon and leading to several gilt edged opportunities being missed. Bobby Redwood, Carlos Castano and Sarfraz Pivano were constant threats up front with Shahed Ahmed, Oliur Rahman and Javier Rivera pulling the strings in midfield. Bengal were left frustrated by a combination of great goal keeping and poor finishing, it was 0-0 at the interval.
After the break things were about to take a turn for the worse for Bengal when former Wycombe wanderers player Shahed Ahmed was dismissed for a 2nd bookable offence, Bengal were now down to 10 men. To make matters worse Aaron Hutchins was adjudged to have upended a Basildon player from a corner and a penalty kick was awarded which Basildon duly converted. At this point in the game
Bengal were really up against it as they had also been forced into replacing two key players due to injury (Javier Rivera, Aaron Hutchins). Basildon to their credit were looking confident and menacing on the counter.
Bengal manager Mamun Chowdhury had to make some crucial decisions and reorganise the team. He reverted to 3 at the back and brought on an extra striker as they were now chasing the game with time running out. Bengal took the game by the ‘scruff of the neck’ and started to lay siege to the Basildon goal, however the visitors defended well in numbers.
Basildon were now seconds away from dumping Bengal out of the cup. Finally, it was leading goal scorer Carlos Castano who made the break through with virtually the last kick of the game when he was played through on goal and brought down as he was about to shoot. The partisan home crowd held its breath as Castano stopped up and calmly sent the keeper the wrong way to equalise for Bengal.
The last gasp equaliser clearly deflated Basildon, Bengal were now looking the fresher of the two teams going into extra time. Many chances were spurned as the game went from end to end. To add to the drama, Basildon were also reduced to 10 men. With the prospect of penalties looming it was another piece of individual brilliance from Carlos Castano that set up the winner. The tricky Columbian forward effortlessly took down a long pass, evaded two despairing defenders and squared for fellow Colombian Carlos Luis Aspina to slot home.
The players and supporters were now in dreamland and Mile End Stadium was truly rocking! Bengal managed to see out the remaining few minute of extra –time. The final whistle was greeted with a mixture of relief, jubilation and euphoria. An incredible and historic night that will live long in the memory.
Team: Jason Hartless, Liton Zaman, Sadik Ahmed, Michael Williams, Aaron Hutchins, Shahed Ahmed, Oliur Rahman, Javier Rivera, Bobby Redwood, Sarfraz Patel, Carlos Castano, (subs used) Shiblu Miah, Joshwar Gonzalez, Carlos Luis Aspina
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