East Bengal’s Douglas da Silva is pulled down by a Port Trust defender during their Super Division tie at the club ground on Saturday. The Brazilian converted the resultant penalty. Picture by Santosh Ghosh

Calcutta, Aug. 7: East Bengal sailed past Calcutta Port Trust (CPT) 3-0 in a Super Division encounter on Saturday. Douglas da Silva, playing upfront as a striker, did the star turn with a double strike while Syed Rahim Nabi scored the other goal.

The terrible ground conditions made things difficult for the players and, at times, posed a bigger threat than their opponents.

For the record, none of the national camp players were tried out. They will, however, appear for the medical test, to be conducted by Dr Vece Paes, at SAI on Sunday.

East Bengal, who recorded their fourth victory, have 14 points from six matches. It was the second consecutive defeat for CPT, who now have 13 points from nine games.

CPT, as the scoreline suggests, posed very little challenge to their opponents, but were guilty of squandering a penalty. They must consider themselves lucky to have escaped defeat by a wider margin, thanks to the goalpost and poor shooting by their rivals.

The muck had rendered the field almost unplayable and the players were struggling to maintain balance. Even the ball refused to roll in the filth near the goalpost at both ends. The players must consider themselves lucky to have escaped any major injury worries.

“I am contractually obligated to the club not to speak on the issue,” said East Bengal coach Subhas Bhowmick later. A senior club official said that the club was helpless since they did not have the authority to look after the ground.

There was, however, no looking back for East Bengal. Douglas was the livewire in the forwardline as the CPT defenders struggled to keep him in check.

Nabi offered good support while Surya Bikash Chakraborty’s overlaps down the left often stretched the CPT defence.

East Bengal took the lead in the eighth minute after Douglas was brought down inside the box. The Brazilian made no mistake with the resultant spot kick.

There was no further luck for the home side in the first half, Nitin Pradhan being guilty of missing two sitters. Then Nabi dodged past a couple of defenders and in his attempt to put the ball past the onrushing goalie only managed to put it over the bar.

Shuva Kumar failed to score from the penalty for CPT in the 63rd minute.

Nabi’s goal came two minutes later. Sujoy Dutta’s shot rebounded off a defender and the striker was at hand to slot home. The final goal came two minutes before the close, Douglas heading in a Surya centre.

TEAMS

East Bengal: Subhasish Roy Chowdhury, Surya Bikash Chakraborty, Madhab Das, Louis Aniweta, Syed Hussain (Prashanta Sarkar, 83), Shylo Malsawmtluanga, Chandan Das (Sandip Das, 65), Selwyn Fernandez, Syed Rahim Nabi, Douglas da Silva, Nitin Pradhan (Sujoy Datta, 47).

CPT: Shibram Dey, Soumen Sarkar, Rabi Karmakar, Srimanta Das, Tapan Das, Sandip Ghosh, Shankarlal Chakraborty, Shuvo Kumar, Bijoy Pal (Amar Pyne, 45), Pradip Indu, Nazim-ul Haq (Sujit Dey, 45).

Referee: Dhanapati Roy.

Tolly win 5-1

Tollygunge Agragami defeated Railway FC 5-1 at the Howrah Stadium. Akeem Abulanle and Gouranga Datta scored two each while Dinesh Swar hit the other. Shuklal Bhumij scored for FCI.

In another tie, Peerless overcame FCI by the odd goal in three. Laltu Das and Okelie Odafa struck for Peerless. Mohammed Ali reduced the margin for FCI.