Kolkata : East Bengal defeated Calcutta Customs 3-1 at East Bengal Ground to begin IFA Shield 2026 campaign in style.
The Red and Yellow had no foreigners. Even senior players from main team are busy preparing for upcoming ACL 2 home clash against Iran’s Al-Shorta SC on October 13 at Salt Lake Stadium.
Mainly reserve team participated today. Calcutta Customs who’re the replacement of Mohammedan SC fielded 2 foreigners.
On a stormy day at Kolkata, the match began with Calcutta Customs pushing East Bengal to limits.Their defense faced problems several times due to the dominance of Calcutta Customs’ Riki Gharami Hembram. Riki’s running from the left side on the muddy field and his attack with the ball repeatedly made East Bengal uncomfortable. Whenever the ball went to his feet, danger was created for East Bengal.
East Bengal were still unable to find their rhythm in the match. Customs were keeping the red-yellow defence busy with one attack after another. In 12th minute, Riki put Customs ahead 1-0 after eluding Boris Singh, Manotosh Chakladar and Narender.
At this time, the big achievement of keeping East Bengal in the game without conceding further goals was goalkeeper Gourab Shaw. He saved several sure goals and kept the team in the match. East Bengal regained parity from a corner in the 29th minute. Rohit Kumar scored equalizer with a perfect header from Boris Singh’s floated ball. Boris took the corner from the right. Rohit Kumar jumped to get his head to the corner kick and found the net past goalkeeper Debjit Ghoshal to make it all square.
After the 1-1, some relief returned to the East Bengal camp and the first half ended like that.
East Bengal found the lead as early as 52nd minute. Akash Hembram got a pass from Boris along the left flank and he whipped in a cross to the centre. Rohit Danu ran in unmarked and shot first time into the net, past Debjit to give East Bengal the 2-1 advantage.
Coach Bino George made a change in the second half. Vikram Pradhan was replaced by Jay Baz. After Jay Baz came into defense, Customs’ attacking edge decreased a lot. On the contrary, East Bengal’s young footballers started getting more space in the attack.
After this, Jesin TK had several scoring opportunities. But he failed to capitalize on the opportunities. Even in a one-on-one situation with the Customs goalkeeper, Jesin could not score. He directly handed the ball to the goalkeeper.
In 82nd minute, substitute Mohamed Bilal made a run into the box and shifted his footing to beat Rahul Soren in the box. He then sent in a cross from a narrow angle to Akash Hembram, who kept his cool to shoots into the net past Debjit.
In the end, East Bengal left the field with a 3-1 victory. Despite Customs’ dominance in the first half, the young East Bengal took control of the match in the second half.
The East Bengal camp was full of smiles at the end of the day as they started their IFA Shield campaign with a victory. They’ll next face Punjab FC on September 30, 2026.
Brief Scorecard –
Calcutta Customs : 1 (Riki 12′)
East Bengal : 3 (R. Kumar 29′, R. Danu 52′, Akash 85′).
