Kolkata: If Altyn Asyr’s forwards were slick, East Bengal were stodgy. If East Bengal needed a glut of chances to score, the team from Turkmenistan produced the kind of conversion rate top hockey teams have with penalty corners. That is why East Bengal’s midweek tryst with Asia’s second tier tournament lasted one match; fight bowing to finesse. It was close, not close enough.

The frontline trio of Myrat Annayev, Mihail Titov and Selim Nurmyradov, right to left, found space, showed skill and the touch to score thrice to overturn a match they were chasing into one they led 3-1 by the 52nd minute. Saul Crespo made it 2-3 in the 59th bursting through a defensive phalanx to score the goal of the night and despite sustained pressure from the home side, that is how the match ended in pouring rain at Salt Lake stadium here on Wednesday.

Altyn Asyr were a touch late off the blocks and because one thing often leads to another, East Bengal were off to a dream start. Six minutes in, they led in this knockout Asian Champions League Two preliminary round. That the goal from a melee had come from David Lalhansanga, in whom East Bengal had invested because of his impressive goal-scoring form in the last Kolkata league and Durand Cup, meant everything that could have gone right did.

Well, almost. Because then maybe East Bengal should have been up 2-0. Mohamad Rakip had broken through on the right but his delivery in the third minute meant for Lalhansanga was plucked out by goalie Batyr Babayev. The 30,000-throng didn’t mind, the evening was young.

They were treated to what the Turkmen were capable off when Rahman Myratberdiyev nearly directed a shot from the top of the area past Prabhsukhan Gill. The East Bengal goalie pulled off a save then but was left stranded in the 18th minute when Annayev scored with a stunning volley. Annayev’s cutting in behind the defence tormented East Bengal enough to replace Mahesh in the second half.

East Bengal tried using the pace of their wide players. Nandakumar Sekar’s delivery fetching the goal meant the plan was working. Till it wasn’t because Nurmyradov kept slipping in between Naorem and left back Mark Zothanpuia. And because, with both teams deciding to bypass the midfield, the deliveries were hopeful.

Nurmyradov put Altyn Asyr ahead with the kind of goal that is rare in football these days – from a direct free kick. He had won the foul when Sauvik Chakrabarti stretched a leg and didn’t find then ball. And then, in the 28th minute, he swung a shot over the East Bengal wall leaving Gill hapless and on his haunches.

If the free kick goes over the wall, there is little you can do but admire the effort, Trevor James Morgan, East Bengal’s coach from when they would win the Federation Cup and come close to bagging an elusive I-League title, would say. Gill would know the feeling.

Yet, East Bengal ended the first half strongly. Naorem’s delivery was intercepted before it reached Madih Talal; a free kick following a strong run from Lalhlansanga led to a Lalchungnunga’s header for a corner-kick and then the East Bengal central defender’s shot was saved.

But it was the men in deep blue who threatened to take the game away and nearly did. With a three-pass move. Myratberdiyev found Annayev with a long ball. Gill saved Annayev’s effort but Titov slid in and scored.

By then, East Bengal had rung in the changes, Dimitrios Diamantakos and Jeakson Singh had replaced Mahesh and Rakip at half-time. Crespo’s stellar goal, driving past a host of players and scoring with minimum backlift, gave them hope as did Ruslan Tajiyev’s clearance bouncing off the horizontal and Annaorazov Serdar sliding in to stop a Sekar ball.

East Bengal thought they had scored in the 80th but Cleiton Silva was adjudged to have fouled Babyev. They will still be in the fray for four competitions this season but instead of Asian Champions League Two, where Mohun Bagan Super Giant will be India’s only representative, AFC Challenge League it will be.