Football
SAFF Women's Club C'ship: East Bengal Women beat Transport United in opener
The IWL Champions put four goals past the defence of Bhutanese champions to start their campaign on high.
East Bengal begin their campaign at the maiden SAFF Women's Club Championship with a win. (Photo credit: AIFF)
Indian Women's League (IWL) champions East Bengal FC Women began their maiden SAFF Women's Club Championship campaign with a dominating win on Sunday.
They defeated the Bhutanese champions Transport United Ladies 4-0 in their opening group fixture, thanks to a brace from Fazila Ikwaput (36, 72) of Uganda.
The Indian youngster, Sulanjana Raul (60), and the Ugandan midfielder, Resty Nanziri (63), also scored one goal each for Red and Gold Brigade in Kathmandu.
Player of the Match Fazila mentioned that this is just the start, and the team is targeting something much bigger. This tournament will help them identify what they need to do to move ahead.
East Bengal started the domination from the get-go and was getting plenty of space on the wings for Sulanjana and Soumya to make quick runs.
However, they weren't able to find their forwards on crosses and had to wait 35 minutes for their opening goal, after finally landing an accurate cross from the right flank.
On a counterattack, Soumya found some space on right flank, which she made full use of before laying an accurate cross to Fazila, who put it in net with a clean header.
After that, the Indian side got plenty of chances in the opening half, but they couldn't convert them, and the scoreline remained unchanged at halftime.
In the second half, they showed better chemistry in their forward line, which led to two beautiful team goals near the 60-minute mark, from Sulanjana and Nanziri.
In the 72nd minute, Sulanjana again showed her magical footwork to cut past her marker and assisted a chip ball to Fazila, who calmly controlled it before completing her brace.
East Bengal is now in joint top position with Nepal's APF Club with 3 points. They will next take on Pakistan's Karachi City FC in second group match on 11th December.
