East Bengal Club bowed out of the 2013 AFC Cup after losing the semifinal return leg 0-3 to defending champions Kuwait SC.

East Bengal started off very well and they put early pressure on the visitors knowing that they would need to overcome a 2-4 deficit to advance to the final.

The hosts produced various promising attacks to challenge the Kuwaiti keeper Musab Alkandari. But East Bengal failed to take advantage of their chances and Kuwait SC decided the match in their favour with two quick goals moments before the half-time whistle.

Rogerio de Assis Silva Coutinho made use of his pace and went through the East Bengal backline to give Kuwait SC the lead in the 42nd minute. Hadi Khamees made it 2-0 for the Arab side just two minutes later when he slotted home after going past an on-rushing Abhijit Mondal.

Goalscorer Khamees was sent off by Australian referee Strebre Delovski just two minutes after his goal after a silly challenge on East Bengal defender Uga Okpara.

East Bengal continued their strong performance in the second half despite conceding two goals and having an uphill task to keep them in contention for the final.

But the Kolkatans had no luck and failed to convert their chances and Kuwait SC put the final nail on East Bengal’s coffin in the 87th minute. Defender Fahad Awad finished off a great move in the box with a volley which was put into the back of the net by Abhishek Das. The ball would have gone into the net without the deflection by the youngster.

Kuwait SC registered a comfortable 3-0 win to secure a 7-2 win on aggregate to book their place in the 2013 AFC Cup final.

AFC Cup 2014 | Semifinal (2nd Leg) | Saltlake Stadium, Kolkata (India)
EAST BENGAL CLUB 0-3 KUWAIT SC

GOALS
0-1 Rogerio de Assis Silva Coutinho (42′)
0-2 Hadi Khamees (44′)
0-3 Abhishek Das (87′, og)

LINE-UPS

East Bengal Club
1 Abhijit Mondal – 5 Abhishek Das, 3 Arnab Mondal, 4 Uga Okpara (71′ 19 Robert Lalthlamuana), 24 Cavin Peter Lobo (85′ 28 Shylo Malswam Tulunga) – 17 Joaquim Abranches, 21 Lalrindika Ralte, 14 Mehtab Hossain [C], 29 Soumik Dey – 15 James Moga (53′ 6 Baljit Singh Sahni), 10 Chidi Edeh

Unused Subs
7 Harmanjot Singh Khabra, 8 Thokchom Naoba Singh, 12 Reisangmi Vashum, 16 Gurwinder Singh, 30 Gurpreet Singh Sandhu

Kuwait SC
1 Musab Alkandari – 2 Yaqoub Al Taher, 3 Fahad Awad, 9 Hadi Khamees, 10 Rogerio de Assis Silva Coutinho, 13 Chadi Hammami, 15 Waleed Aly Huseen Jomah, 18 Jarah Al Ateeqi [C], 19 Husain Baba, 20 Husain Hakim, 33 Fahad Homoud

Unused Subs
8 Abdullah Al Buraiki, 14 Abdullah S.A.S.S. Aldhafeeri, 16 Khaled Alazemi, 17 Issam Jemaa, 22 Bader Al-Azami, 31 Sami Alsanea, 37 Shereedah Alshereedah, 44 Ahmad, 48 Fahed Jahel

BOOKINGS

Yellow Cards
?’ Abhijit Mondal (East Bengal Club)
30′ Waleed Aly Huseen Jomah (Kuwait SC)
73′ Lalrindika Ralte (East Bengal Club)

Yellow-Red Cards
…

Red Cards
45’+1′ Hadi Khamees (Kuwait SC)
66′ Arnab Mondal (East Bengal Club)

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee
Strebre Delovski (Australia)

Assistant Referees
Paul Adam (Australia), Luke Andrew Brennan (Australia)

Fourth Official
Nagor Amir Noor Mohamed (Malaysia)

Match Commissioner
Sunil Senaweera (Sri Lanka)