East Bengal?s Roberto Paolo evades a challenge from a George defender as teammate Douglas da Silva looks on at the club ground on Monday. Picture by Pradip Sanyal

Calcutta: ?Roberto Paolo is here to stay,? said East Bengal coach Subhas Bhowmick, after his team?s 3-0 win over George Telegraph in the CFL Super Division tie at home on Monday.

Paolo, Climax Lawrence and Douglas da Silva struck to give the red-and-gold side three vital points and moved them two points behind current league leaders Mohun Bagan on 35, with a game in hand.

East Bengal?s new Brazilian striker, slow to start with in the initial stages, found his feet as the match wore on and gradually blossomed at the closing stages.

Derided by the crowd in the first half, the new recruit, in his debut match, however, scored the team?s opening goal in the 39th minute, nodding in a Rahim Nabi header from close. That apart he did very little in the first-half. The rain before the start of the match also helped his cause very little as he failed to balance his non-kicking foot in the slushy underfoot condition.

But towards the end of the match, the Brazilian started showing flashes of brilliance. He dribbled past a host of rival defenders to set up a beautiful ball for countrymate Douglas in the 84th minute, which he hit straight at the goalkeeper?s body.

?He has a good first touch and creates space for himself,? opined Mohammedan Sporting coach Mridul Banerjee, who was present to watch his team?s next opponents, East Bengal.

However, the Mohammedan Sporting coach does not only have Paolo to think about, there?s Douglas as well. The big Brazilian, outstanding throughout the match, once again found the net with a well-executed free-kick with just a minute to go, that placed him on top of the goalscoreres? list with eight.

In between, Climax Lawrence flicked home the second in the 82nd minute following a Paolo chip.

George, without a win under their belt in the Super Six phase, finished the league on 17 points from 18 matches.

Paolo, meanwhile, was happy with his performance but felt that he could have done more had the ground been better.

George Telegraph?s Mohan Chakraborty, who injured himself after clashing with own ?keeper Raju Singh, fell unconscious after the match and had to be hospitalised. ?He?s well now,? said a club official.

Teams

East Bengal: Sangram Mukherjee, Selwyn Fernandes (Sandip Das, 20), Madhab Das, Debjit Ghosh, Rahim Nabi, Chandan Das (Climax Lawrence, 63), Douglas da Silva, Alvito D?Cunha, Malsawmtluanga, Bijen Singh (Dipankar Roy, 45), Roberto Paolo

George Telegraph: Raju Singh, Arindam Hazra, Sajal Saha, Shyam Mondal, Mohan Chakraborty, Sovan Das, Soumen Mondal (Manoj Mondal, 70), Sheikh Azim (Kishore Mallick, 43), Amit Biswas, Surajit Roy (Ashok Das, 45), W.T. Sunday.

Referee: Debjit Das.

Ties rescheduled

Mohun Bagan?s Super Division match against Ever-Ready for Tuesday was postponed to October 4 as the latter?s under-19 team will play the final against East Bengal juniors on the same day. In fact, four of the junior outfit play in Ever-Ready?s senior team.

Moreover, the East Bengal-Mohamedan Sporting match, scheduled for September 29, too has been postponed. The CFL match will now be held after the completion of the IFA Shield.