NorthEast United FC weren’t here for a picnic or holiday, as their coach Juan Pedro had stated on the eve of the Durand Cup final. But they will surely have a party, a big one.

The visitors were outplayed in the first half of the final at the Salt Lake Stadium by a superior Mohun Bagan Super Giant who, riding on the partisan crowd support, had a two-goal advantage. Yet, NorthEast restored parity to force a tie-breaker, where their goalkeeper Gurmeet Singh overshadowed his counterpart Vishal Kaith.

Gurmeet’s teammates were spot-on with their shots as NorthEast prevailed 4-3 in the shootout to lift their maiden Durand title before a turnout of 52,391. And also, before team owner John Abraham, who couldn’t have been happier.

For Mohun Bagan, it looked as if they had pocketed the game after Jason Cummings converted a ninth-minute penalty and Sahal Abdul Samad scored off an Anirudh Thapa and Liston Colaco set-up towards the close of the first half. It’s not that Bagan’s defence looked fragile as it was in the semi-final against Bengaluru FC. But their midfield became nearly non-functional after Jose Molina benched Sahal to bring in Dimitrios Petratos.

That was the turning point. NorthEast brought the game in their grip and two strikes from Alaaeddine Ajaraie and substitute Guillermo Fernandez, who came in at the start of the second half in place of Moroccan Hamza Regragui, made it 2-2.

Ten minutes after the change of ends, Ajaraie reduced the margin with an angular right-footer off Jithin MS’s set-up. Soon after, Ajaraie delivered again with an assist for Guillermo, whose outstanding volley levelled the scores leaving Bagan and their fans stunned.

In the shootout, Gurpreet blocked the shots of Liston and Subhasish Bose, while Guillermo, Miguel Zabaco, substitute Parthib Gogoi and Ajaraie were on target.

Bagan had emerged unscathed in the shootouts in their last two games. Their luck ran out on Saturday.