Mike Okoro in action during East Bengal’s match against George Telegraph in Barasat on Tuesday. Picture by Santosh Ghosh

Calcutta: With Mohun Bagan having already assured themselves of the CFL Premier Division title, Mike Okoro’s re-appearance for East Bengal was the only talking point in their match against George Telegraph on Tuesday. To add to the enthusiasm, Okoro scored the all-important goal in the 47th minute at the Barasat Vidyasagar Stadium.

It was good opportunity for East Bengal to test their bench strength before being pitted against top-rung sides in the Federation Cup. Coach Subhas Bhowmick didn’t try to do anything different and rested regulars ? Nasim Akhtar, Chandan Das, Shasthi Duley, Arun Malhotra et al ? against the minnows.

Syed Rahim Nabi, who has been playing as striker of late, also came close to closing on a few occasions. Twice in the first ten minutes he missed sitters after getting balls from Shylo Malsawmtluanga and Sandip Das, respectively.

The match never rose to great heights, but Okoro, who came back from Poland to play for his old club looked to have satisfied the fans within 15 minutes after taking the field. Two minutes into the second half, Sandip Das sailed a ball for Malsawmtluanga on the right. Receiving the ball inside the box, Okoro made no mistake as he tapped the ball home.

After conceding the goal, George Telegraph players put pressure on the opponents’ defence, thanks to a couple of foreigners, Goodday and Francis.

East Bengal survived some anxious moments during the last 15 minutes, but that wasn’t enough for the lowly-placed George to snatch a point.

By virtue of this win, East Bengal took their tally to 31 after 13 outings while George remained on nine from 13 matches.

TEAMS

East Bengal: Abhra Mondal (Rajat Ghosh Dastidar 82), Surya Bikash Chakraborty, M. Suresh, Debkumar Sashmal, Sandip Das, Debabrata Roy, Saumik Dey, K. Kulothungan (Mike Okoro 32), Shylo Malsawmtluanga, Dipankar Roy (Jatin Bisht 55), Syed Rahim Nabi.

George Telegraph: Swarup Das, Sanjoy Mullick, Binod Mal, Pawan Das, Kutubuddin Sepai, Manik Burman, Amit Biswas (Somnath Debnath 66), Sanjib Santra, Ramu Adhikary (Raju Ghosh 83), Gautam Thakur (Goodday 58), Francis.

Referee: Udayan Halder.