East Bengal’s Ashim Biswas celebrates his 35th-second goal against Mohammedan Sporting at the Salt Lake Stadium on Thursday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta: It was almost bizarre the way things transpired in the opening 45 minutes of the marquee clash at Salt Lake Stadium this afternoon.

Ashim Biswas’ 35th-second header — yes, East Bengal went a goal up when the CFL Premier Division match was not even a minute old — set the ball rolling. A flurry of activity and some defensive blunders later, it was 4-2 in favour of the red-and-golds. It stayed that way at the end of 90 minutes.

Six goals in the first half of any competitive match is rare. In a game involving two ‘big’ teams, it’s unprecedented.

So what if none of the goals was memorable? So what the if the quality of soccer on display was bland? East Bengal fans went home delighted — having seen Brazilian striker Marcio Fernandes Thomas score on debut and the team emerge clear frontrunners in the double-leg competition.

This was a much-hyped game, involving the two leading title-contenders. But with the two defence-lines fumbling once too often, it degenerated into a battle of errors. Mohammedan Sporting certainly committed more mistakes. No wonder they lost.

The central defenders, in particular, cut a sorry figure. Douglas da Silva — one of Subhas Bhowmick’s trusted old lieutenants — and Madhab Das were often found wanting as balls were floated into the Mohammedan Sporting goalmouth.

Take Marcio’s goal, for example, which came when Mohammedan Sporting were 2-1 up. Chandan’s routine cross found the Brazilian alright, but the two stoppers were close by. Neither could do a thing as Marcio — who did enough to justify his coach’s faith — nearly stumbled before controlling the ball and turning well to slot it past Abhra Mondal.

East Bengal’s goal No. 3 came with a bit of help as well. Vincent Pires, latching on to a long Snehashish Chakraborty corner, sent in a cross which found onrushing goalkeeper Prasanta Dora in no man’s land and Douglas-Madhab in no position to prevent Syed Rahim Nabi from nodding home.

Snehashish, adjudged Man of the Match for orchestrating the midfield with Luiz Octavio de Souza, earned East Bengal a penalty as Debjit Ghosh tripped him en route to the goal. Chandan Das blasted the netting with a high right-footer.

Mohammedan Sporting had earlier scored twice — first through a Subhashish Roy Chowdhury corner which went in off a defender’s head and then via Kulothungan after Mike Okoro had done the spadework.

Subhas Bhowmick’s men did look threatening in patches and created some more opportunities in the second half. But with Okoro not getting much support from either his medios or Raman Vijayan, the East Bengal defence had a far easier time.

The major difference between the sides was the level of fitness. The likes of Douglas and Bijen Singh may have starred in some of East Bengal’s historic triumphs, but that is history. Right now, Bhowmick’s team has too many players who can’t be relied on too often.

TEAMS

East Bengal: Abhra Mondal, Gurpreet Singh, Covan Lawrence (Vincent Pires, 22), Anupam Sarkar, Saumik Dey, Syed Rahim Nabi, Luiz Octavio de Souza, Chandan Das (Bibiano Fernandes, 65), Snehashish Chakraborty, Marcio Fernandes Thomas (Fredy Mascarenhas, 59), Ashim Biswas

Mohammedan Sporting: Prasanta Dora, Subhashish Roy Chowdhury (Rajiv Ahmed, 46), Douglas da Silva, Madhab Das, Habibur Rehman Mondal, Bijen Singh, Noel Wilson, Debjit Ghosh, K. Kulothungan (Jamir Ali Mondal, 54), Mike Okoro, Raman Vijayan (Suleiman Firoz, 74)

Referee: Subrata Sarkar

Man of the Match: Snehashish Chakraborty.