IWL 2023-24: Sethu FC defeat East Bengal FC 2-4 at their home as fans welcome Women's Football in Kolkata

Sethu FC defeated East Bengal FC by 2-4 in Kolkata as fans welcomed Indian Women's League for the first time in the City of Joy. Priyangka Devi scored a brace while Kajol D'souza, and Kaviya Pakkirisamy were the other scorers for Sethu FC. Meanwhile, Sulanjana Paul and Sibani Devi scored for the home teams in front of their home fans.

Kajol D'souza drew the first blood in the 38th minute for Sethu. A confusion from the East Bengal goalkeeper allowed Kajol to head the ball in to silence the 500+ crowd present at the ground. Though East Bengal appealed for a foul on the goalkeeper, the referee sigland goal for the away team. The first half ended with 0-1 score on the board but East Bengal always looked threatning with Sulanjan and Sibani playing on the flanks.

In the 60th minute, East Bengal made a comeback as Sibani Devi headed the ball to create history for the club. The winger became East Bengal's first player to score at their home in IWL history.

However, Sethu FC, who had two foreigners in their lineup, were too strong to remain silent even in front of the home support. Six minutes after conceeding the goal, Priyangka Devi's cross went straight into the net as Sethu took the lead again. Melody Chanu completely missed the ball and she was soon replaced by the substitute goalkeeper Mamani Das.

Indian Women's League game between East Bengal vs Sethu FC at East Bengal ground.

Great to see few fans at the ground!#IndianFootball #IWL #IndianWomensLeague pic.twitter.com/kL00Okmpm1

— Koushik Biswas (@kbofficial25) December 23, 2023

Priyangka Devi then increased the lead for the visitors with a superb header inside the box in the 79th minute. Kaviya Pakkirisamy's cross from the left found Priyangka at the right spot and there was nothing to do for East Bengal goalkeeper to repel the scoreline from being 1-3.

East Bengal's hopes rose up again as Sulanjana Paul scored a stunner to make it 2-3 with 8 minutes to go for the final whistle. Sulanjana, who had scored in the last game as well, side volleyed the ball from inside the box to give the fans something to cheer again.

Also Read: IWL 2023-24: Karishma Shirvoikar's hat-trick helps Kickstart FC beat East Bengal by 3-1

Although, the hopes of the fans vanished when birthday girl Kaviya Pakkirisamy scored the fourth and final goal for the visitors in the 84th minute of the match. Purnima Kumari provided the cross and assist for Sethu FC this time.

"It was great to see the fans cheering for the girls. This is what we need to see. We played well against a strong team who are the contenders for the title. Other than the three mistakes that helped them score the goals, the girls were fantastic today," said East Bengal Women FC head coach Dipankar Biswas.

"Good to see the one group cheering the girls. We expect these things to more people to come and support their team. For our team, it was our pride to play against East Bengal in Kolkata," said Sethu FC's head coach Kanan Vitthal Priolkar.

East Bengal will play their next match on 4th January 2024 against HOPS FC at East Bengal Ground.