Bengaluru FC were condemned to their first defeat in the I-League going down 2-0 to East Bengal on a heavy Kalyani pitch, in Kolkata, on Saturday. The Blues were playing their first away game in the league and the incessant rains only added to the challenge of playing away.

Coach Ashley Westwood started with the same squad that beat Dempo at home earlier in the week as the visitors grappled with the tough pitch conditions.

Bengaluru FC trailed for the first time in the league when Robin Singh headed Lalrindika’s corner into his own net in the 50th minute. He was close to making amends two minutes later when his strike from the right ricocheted off the post. The Blues searched hard for an equaliser but it just wouldn’t come.

Westwood started the second half throwing in fresh legs by replacing Darren Caldeira and Beikhokhei Beingaichho with the two Singhs – Thoi and Robin. The league leaders started stitching their act together and seemed far more comfortable than the torrid first fifteen minutes of the game they endured getting used to the pitch.

East Bengal kept knocking at the door regularly but Chidi Edeh and James Moga were erratic more often than not from good positions in the box. The Kolkata side could have gone ahead in the 48th minute when Cavin Lobo unleashed a strike that rattled the bar.

Earlier, in the first half, Sean Rooney could have made it six in as many games after Rino Anto put him through with a delightful ball. The Australian striker got to the ball but it wasn’t enough time to strike it as well as he would have liked to. Moga sealed an important win for the hosts when he spanked home from in the box at the fag end of added time.

“We aren’t going to use the condition of the pitch as an excuse. Even East Bengal played on the same pitch. Credit to East Bengal. But I would also like to give credit to my side. We kept asking questions in the second half but it just wasn’t meant to be,” said Westwood.

The loss keeps Bengaluru FC on 13 points from six games having played one and two games more than Salgaocar and Pune FC respectively who trail the Blues on the table.