E Bengal in Rovers Cup semis

In a high-scoring match, soccer giants Kingfisher East Bengal defeated Zee Churchill Brothers 5-4 to enter the semi-finals of the 100th Rovers Cup Football tournament at the Cooperage in Bombay on Wednesday.

East Bengal's entry into the semi-finals was almost certain as the previous match between Mahindra United and Jagatjit Cotton and Textile Mills, Phagwara, ended in a 1-1 draw.

Despite the defeat, Churchill entered the semi-finals, having won their first two matches in the group -- against Mahindra United and JCT Mills.

The East-Bengal-Churchill match was a pleasure to watch as goals started pouring in since the seventh minute. Dipankar Roy received Ilhom Sharipov's pass and pushed the ball into the net with his right foot to give East Bengal an early lead.

Five minutes later, Surkumar Singh's shot saw the ball bounce awkwardly just in front of Churchill goalkeeper Edward Ansah and travel into the goal.

The third goal was a surprise one for the Calcutta team as Churchill defender Jaspreet Singh, while trying to clear the ball, missed it and East Bengal striker Shrikanta Datta, who was well-placed in the penalty area, gently headed into the net.

Churchill were stunned but they had only themselves to blame as they lacked in defence coordination.

Churchill, however, struck for their first goal in 28th minute. The East Bengal keeper failed to hold on cleanly to Igor Shkurim's header and Francis Silveira, who was positioned next to him, lobbed the ball to Jose Colaso, who promptly put it between the posts.

East Bengal struck again for their fourth goal, with Shrikanta Datta getting his second. He received a well-created pass from Olim Talliaev to put it across the keeper.

Churchill, however, managed to reduce the margin in the 43rd minute when Andre Reqena scored their second goal after receiving the pass from Igor Shkurim.

Churchill took the break trailing 2-4.

After the break, Churchill reduced the margin further when Igor Shkurim received a pass from Francis Silveira and hit a powerful shot into the East Bengal goal in the 56th minute.

But, East Bengal succeeded in scoring their fifth goal soon after. This time Olim Talliaev was the man who took the ball almost from the centre line, dribbled it past the Churchill defenders, forced Ansah to come out and scored.

After this goal, Churchill looked a bit tensed but somehow managed to keep their cool. This helped them in further reducing the margin as Jose Colaso gave pass to Shkurim, who gave a return pass to Colaso only to find Colaso putting the ball into the net in the 75th minute.

Colaso's goal helped Churchill regain their touch and they tried their level best to equalise but time and East Bengal defence didn't permit them to do so.

The other match between local outfit Mahindra United and JCT ended in a 1-1 draw.

Mahindra took early lead in the sixth minute when their striker Manjit Singh scored an easy goal from outside the penalty area.

JCT bounced back into the game through a goal in the 20th minute. Their captain Ram Pal gave a forward pass to advancing Jaswant Singh, who didn't disappoint his captain and coach and put the ball into Mahindra goal.

In Thursday's matches, Air India will meet Salgaocar Sports Club while Mohun Bagan will lock horns with the Iran Youth Team.

The Iranians have already entered semi-finals and the tussle for the last semi-final slot is now between Air India, Salgaocar and Bagan.

Both Air India and Salgaocar need a victory against each other to enter last four stage while Bagan have to beat the Iranians.