East Bengal won a major trophy after more than 11 years when they defeated Odisha FC 3-2 in the Kalinga Super Cup final at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Sunday. The teams were locked 2-2 at the end of 90 minutes.

The last time East Bengal won a national-level trophy was on September 30, 2012, when they lifted the Federation Cup, prevailing over Dempo SC 3-2 in Siliguri.

Sunday’s triumph also ensured that Carles Cuadrat’s side will feature in the preliminary stage of the AFC Champions League 2.

It was a game of two halves, as Odisha took the lead through Diego Mauricio in the first half before Nandhakumar Sekar’s strike and Saul Crespo’s penalty swung the pendulum in favour of East Bengal. Odisha centre-back Mourtada Fall was also sent off for a second bookable offence, putting the advantage squarely at East Bengal’s feet.

However, Odisha clawed back deep into injury-time with an Ahmed Jahouh penalty before East Bengal’s Souvik Chakrabarti saw red in extra time.

Cleiton Silva, however, made sure that none of that counted in the end, as he capitalised on a defensive error to score the winner.

Odisha took the lead when Ahmed Jahouh sent in an accurate aerial ball from the half-way line into the East Bengal box, where Roy Krishna got into a duel with Borja Gonzalez.

While the Odisha attacker lost the fight for the ball, his teammate Diego Mauricio was on hand to pounce on the ball and slam it home, minutes before the half-time break.

East Bengal, however, were not ready to give in without a fight. Defender Lal Chungnunga and winger Naorem Mahesh Singh, the two returnees from national team duty, were brought in place of Mandar Rao Dessai and Javier Siverio, respectively. This gave a new dimension to the attack.

The width that Mahesh provided the red and gold brigade down the left allowed Nandhakumar to drift into the centre from the right.

Mahesh played to Nandhakumar behind the Odisha defence and the latter beat Odisha FC goalkeeper Laldanmawia Ralte to slot home the equaliser.