East Bengal rode on substitute Ryuji Sueoka’s second half strike to scrape past Semen Padang of Indonesia 1-0 in their home leg of the AFC Cup quarter-finals here on Tuesday.
Sueoka, who replaced Reisangmei Vashum in the 55th minute, brought the 40,000-odd crowd on their feet with a 71st minute strike as his curling shot from the edge of the box found the Semen Padang net.
Eyeing their maiden semi-finals berth, East Bengal will face the Indonesian outfit in the return leg of the quarter-finals at the Agus Salim Stadium in Padang on September 24.
Goan heavyweights Dempo FC are the only Indian side to have made the AFC Cup semi-finals in the 2004-05 season.
The win must have brought relief to their newly-appointed Brazilian coach Marcos Falopa, who was under pressure after taking over the reins from a hugely successful Trevor James Morgan.
The red-and-gold brigade did not have a convincing start as they relied on long balls.
To make matters worse, Sudanese recruit James Moga did not look fully fit. The visitors dominated the first half which failed to yield a goal.
In fact, things could have been different had Padang not missed two sitters early into the match.
East Bengal survived an early scare and full credit should be given to goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh, who stood tall under the bar thwarting two back-to-back attempts from the Indonesian outfit.
Gurpreet first denied Wilson who made a fine inroad from the left flank and Muhammad Nur Iskandar took a powerful shot from the melee but the lanky goalkeeper once again made a brilliant save in the seventh minute.
The all-important move came in the 55th minute when Sueoka replaced Vashum and the spectators cheered loudly anticipating a positive vibe.
The Japanese did not disappoint as his powerful curling shot was enough to give East Bengal three points.