For all those wanting another East Bengal-Mohun Bagan Derby in Sunday’s Durand Cup final, well, their wish may come true.

Staging a dramatic comeback after being two goals down, Emami East Bengal restored parity and prevailed over NorthEast United FC 5-3 on penalties in Tuesday’s semi-final clash at the Salt Lake Stadium to earn a final berth.

The wait now is for Mohun Bagan Super Giant to beat FC Goa in the other semi-final on Thursday.

That would gift fans the season’s second Derby.

For a good 70 minutes, East Bengal were completely pedestrian with their faulty passing, ball-receiving and ball control, making matters easier for NorthEast, who were sitting pretty thanks to strikes from Miguel Zabaco (22nd minute) and Phalguni Singh (a little before the hour mark).

But in spite of the two-goal cushion, NorthEast surprisingly went into a shell and that allowed East Bengal to make more inroads, till their 77th-minute equaliser. An attempt from Naorem Singh, off Saul Crespo’s centre, went in after a deflection from rival defender Dinesh Singh.

East Bengal could still breathe following that goal, while NorthEast went further into the shell with almost as many as eight of their players going on defence.

They were even reduced to 10 men towards the end when Zabaco got marching orders for a double yellow.

Carles Cuadrat’s men though ensured they held their nerves and their efforts to equalise bore fruit just seconds before the final whistle when Nandha Kumar, the Derby hero, headed home substitute Cleiton Augusto’s set-up from the left. East Bengal couldn’t have been more relieved.

Momentum had swung towards East Bengal as Cleiton, Crespo, (substitute) Borja Gonzalez, Naorem and Nandha were all spot-on with their shots in the tie-breaker.

For NorthEast, substitutes Ibson Pereira, Gani Ahmed and Pragyan Gogoi scored, but Parthib Gogoi failed even after getting a chance to retake.