KALYANI: A improved performance by East Bengal facilitated them to beat Peerless Peerless Sports Club 2-0 in their second fixture of the ongoing 2016/17 CFL Premier Division – A at the Kalyani Municipal Stadium on Sunday.
Trevor Morgan’s men scored both goals in the first-half through Rahul Bheke (18th) and skipper Arnab Mondal (30th).
The win took East Bengal to the top with six points from two outings while Peerless slip to third position with four points.
Going into the game East Bengal made a couple of changes in the starting XI that beat Bhawanipore midweek. Somide Adelaja replaced Lalrindika Ralte to make his club debut while Arnab came in for Calum Angus. Peerless coach Fuja Tope also made two change by bringing in latest signing Ugochukwu Godswill and Kallol Paul who replaced Eze Kingsley and Sharukh Rahman respectively.
It was a bright start by the Hexa Champions, but Peerless defended deep in numbers, leaving the the Red & Golds trying their luck from range.
East Bengal had their first attempt on the rival goal in the 8th minute when Do Dong Huyn tried a long range shot which missed the target by a few inches.
Meanwhile, Peerless did have their chances but strikers Ghanefo Kromah and Rahim Nabi both failed to convert their chances.
East Bengal almost pulled ahead in the 17th minute but Arnab saw his header hit the woodwork from Mehtab Hossain’s corner. However, East Bengal broke the deadlock in the very next minute when Bheke successfuly head home another corner of Mehtab.
Having scored, East Bengal increased their pressure and attacked the rival goal ferociously going close on a few occasions. East Bengal’s pressure yielded another goal when Arnab got on the scoresheet.
At the half hour mark, the game had it’s moment of deja vu as Mehtab once again sent in a corner from the right side but unlike the last time Arnab made no mistake to head past Peerless keeper Sankar Roy.
Two minutes later East Bengal had a golden opportnuity to wrap the game as Peerless defender Akhil Rajbanshi tipped Dong inside the box and referee Animesh Biswas immediately signalled for a penalty kick. However, Sankar pulled off a magnificent save by diving on his left to deny Dong.
The second half saw more of the midfield battle. Though East Bengal kept the pressure on and had a few half chances through Dong and Adelaja but the Peerless defense managed to clear the attacks.
East Bengal, Around the hour mark, had another chance when Rafique and Avinash Ruidas did well to combine with quick passes just outside the Peerless box. Rafique with a clever touch sent Avinash clear on the right, but a timely tackle from Ugochukwu saw danger averted.
Towards the end, Peerless desperately tried to push up to get something out of the fixture, but East Bengal held on to their two goal advantage to seal a well deserved win.
East Bengal will face Army XI next on 12 August at Barasat Stadium while Peerless take on United Sports Club on at the same venue a day before.
East Bengal XI- Luis Barreto, Rahul Bheke, Arnab Mondal, Gurwinder Singh, Narayan Das, Abinash Ruidas (Robert Lalthalmuana – 73′), Dong Hyun Do (Callum Angus – 72′), Mehtab Hossein, Mohammed Rafique, Jiten Murmu, Somide Adelaja.
Peerless SC XI- Shankar Roy, Arijit Bagui, Ugochukwu Godswill, Akhil Rajbangshi, Irfan Khan, Arghya Chakravarty, Kallol Pal (Rahul Jaiswal – 74′), Sukhwinder Singh, Anil Kisku (Laxmi Kant Mandi – 54′), Syed Rahim Nabi (Sourav Mallick – 86′), Ghanefo Kromah.
Photo By Santanu Biswas.