Ayan Chowdhury (left), who scored two goals for East Bengal, tries to get past Samar Das on Monday. Picture by Santosh Ghosh

Calcutta: East Bengal juniors booked a berth in the final of the under-19 football league defeating arch-rivals Mohun Bagan 4-1 at the Salt Lake Stadium on Monday.

Ayan Chowdhury struck twice, while Abhijit Goswami and Anupam Dutta completed the tally for East Bengal. Mohun Bagan pulled one back through Achintya Akura. At the lemon break, East Bengal were up by three goals.

East Bengal scored the first in the 13th minute. Ayan Chowdhury?s solo effort down the middle put his team ahead after he weaved past three defenders.

East Bengal doubled the lead in the 20th minute. Mohan Sarkar, receiving a ball just outside the box lobbed it inside for Ayan, who headed home.

Three minutes on, the red-and-gold juniors once again found the net. Following a goalmouth melee, Abhijit Goswami found the net.

East Bengal received a blow in the 50th minute when their first-choice keeper, Biswajit Barui had to be replaced after he sustained a cut above his right eye. Biswajit had to be taken to the IFA?s medical unit for treatment.

After squandering several chances, East Bengal made it 4-0 in the 71st minute when substitute Anupam Dey, advancing from the left, placed the ball nicely to the right of Bagan custodian Swapan Das.

Two minutes later, the green-and-maroon brigade pulled one back when Sheikh Monirul?s cross from the left was flicked home by Achintya.

East Bengal will face Ever-Ready in the final on Tuesday at the Mohun Bagan ground. Ever-Ready defeated Mohammedan AC by a Ratan Das goal at the Bagan ground. IFA will felicitate the under-19 league champions on Thursday.

Teams:

East Bengal: Biswajit Barui (Pulak Roy), Manab Bhandari, Dinesh Kumar, Sukomal Santra, Joydeep Debnath, Mohan Sarkar, Prasun Chakraborty, Dharmendra Dergao, Dipanjan Das, Ayan Chowdhury (Wilson Kumar), Avijit Goswami (Anupam Dutta).

Mohun Bagan: Swapan Das, Sabyasachi Mondal, Sheikh Monirul, Samar Das (Rathin Mondal), Dipankar Das, Achintya Akura, Jahangir Hossain, Pratim Sarkar, Sudip Ghoroi, Sanjib Mukherjee (Sheikh Sanjay), Bilas Das (Somnath Singh).

Referee: Dhanapati Roy.