Syed Nahim Nabi emerged East Bengal's saviour as the National Football League champions Edged past JCT Mills 1-0 to move into the final of the Durand Cup football tournament in Delhi on Monday.
Nabi's header in the 71st minute off a superb throw by Habibur Rahman saved the day for the red and yellow brigade, who were otherwise outsmarted by the JCT team, which played their first semi-final since losing to the same opponents in the 1999 edition of the tournament.
East Bengal will meet Mohun Bagan, who booked their berth in the summit clash on Sunday after beating defending champions Salgaocar via the tie-breaker.
When the two Kolkata teams last met in the title round in 1994, Bagan emerged winners.
Nabi's winner came against the trend of play, which saw the Punjab team going close to scoring a number of times but failing either due to finishing mistakes or being thwarted by custodian Rajat Ghosh Dastidar.
The goal came after one of the few moves made by the Kolkatans. Nabi tried to move in through the right and was challenged by Bimal Barua. In the tussle for the ball, Nabi was pulled up by the linesman for an unwieldy tackle but escaped the eye of referee Benjamin D'Silva.
Before Rahman took the throw, the linesman brought the incident to the notice of the referee, who promptly flashed the yellow card to Nabi. Getting the caution Nabi went back inside the box and then rose high above his markers to head home the goal and ran back in jubilation.