East Bengal Beat Punjab FC 3-1 In ISL, But Playoffs Berth Looks Tough

East Bengal maintained their newfound form with a 3-1 thumping of Punjab FC in their Indian Super League (ISL) match on Saturday.

East Bengal maintained their newfound form with a 3-1 thumping of Punjab FC in their Indian Super League (ISL) match on Saturday. Dimitrios Diamantakos (15th minute) set the tone for the visitors with an early strike before Naorem Mahesh Singh (47th) and Lalchungnunga (54th) found the back of the net. Later, Punjab FC scored the consolation goal in the 62nd minute, courtesy of a fantastic strike from Ezequiel Vidal. East Bengal are now unbeaten in their last three away games this campaign as they kept their hopes for playoffs alive albeit mathematically.

They are 10th in the table with 24 points from 21 games now, whereas Punjab FC have dropped to the 11th place.

With three games left to play, both East Bengal and Punjab FC are eight points behind the sixth-placed Mumbai City.

East Bengal made some promising moves from the left flank to start the game, while Punjab FC's backline were alert to the danger in the early exchanges.

The Red and Gold brigade took the lead when their Greek forward hammered a shot on goal from the left, more in hope than conviction but it went through Ravi Kumar's legs into the goal.