IWL 2025-26: East Bengal beat Garhwal United for second straight win

East Bengal FC registered its second straight win in the Indian Women’s League 2025-26, beating newly promoted Garhwal United FC 2-1 at the Kalyani Stadium on Saturday.

Sulanjana Raul gave the defending champions the lead in the 22nd minute before Fazila Ikwaput doubled the lead in the 63rd minute.

Garhwal United, who had very little to show for progress for most of the match, pulled one back through substitute Monisha Singha (72′).

Building on Wednesday’s 1-0 win over Sethu, East Bengal now sit at fourth place with a perfect record of six points out of a possible six. The Moshal Girls do have a game in hand on leader Nita FA, who have seven points. After the defeat, Garhwal United dropped to third place with six points from three games.

Knowing the status of the opponent he was up against, Garhwal United started cautiously, but East Bengal didn’t take much time to take the lead. Ikwaput had a decent chance in the sixth minute, but the Ugandan blasted a half-volley over the crossbar.

The Moshal Girls struck in the 22nd minute when Soumya Guguloth whipped in an instinctive first-time cross from the right flank, and Sulanjana was alert as ever in the box to volley the ball home. Her shot went through the legs of goalkeeper Ribansi Jamu to give East Bengal a deserved lead.

Ribansi kept busy for the remainder of the first half and the India Under-20 international made a number of crucial saves to reduce the deficit to a solitary goal. First she stopped a quick, low strike from Sulanjana’s left foot, before coming bravely out of her goal to thwart Ikwaput’s lobbed effort.

A few minutes later, Resty Nanziri picked out Ikwaput through the middle but the latter dragged her effort wide to sum up a frustrating first half for last season’s IWL top scorer. Garhwal United went into halftime as perhaps the slightly happier team, trailing the champions by just a goal.

However, Ikwaput finally found her shooting boots after the change of ends and scored the second goal of the match in the 63rd minute. Soumya again grabbed the assist, but rather unconsciously, as she leapt high to meet Ashalata Devi Loitongbam’s corner. Soumya’s header went to Ikwaput, who didn’t think twice and hit a thrilling volley that Ribansi left behind as the ball went into the net from the near post.

Trailing by two goals and seeing virtually nothing in attack until that point in the match, a first defeat of the campaign seemed imminent for Garhwal United. But Monisha’s goal in the 72nd minute sparked belief in the Delhi side that there might be something for them in the match.

Substitute Shruti Kumari’s cross from the right was too deep, but Monisha, who had also come on a few minutes earlier, went after it with the aim of pulling the ball back into the middle for one of her teammates.

However, her cross turned into a shot, which went above goalkeeper Panthoi Chanu Elangbam and into the net as East Bengal conceded for the first time in the last seven matches in all competitions.

Emboldened after halving the deficit, Garhwal United became increasingly desperate for another goal and possibly a famous point against the Indian and SAFF champions. Although the Delhi team saw more ball in the final minutes, Panthoi again could not cause many problems. East Bengal made its experience count and retained all three points.

Published on December 27, 2025