Theodore Sunday in action against United SC at the Salt Lake Stadium on Wednesday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta: Theodore Sunday scored both goals for Mohammedan Sporting as they beat United SC 2-0 in the Sahara CFL Premier Division under the lights in front of a partisan crowd on a moist Salt Lake Stadium pitch on Wednesday.

The boisterous Mohammedan Sporting fans were treated to some aggressive and confident football by their team courtesy their talismanic striker Theodore Sunday.

Right from the word go it was very obvious that the two teams had taken the field with completely different ideas as to purpose and strategy. The relatively inexperienced United SC side concentrated primarily on their defence, and their football seemed to echo a pre-match exhortation to not concede. But with the mercurial Sunday pounding away at their defence, it was a plan that was doomed to fail.

The goal, when it came in the 26th minute, was a culmination of some determined and optimistic football from the black-and-white brigade. Sunday found United defender Louice Nigi Ebami dithering with the ball and succeeded in taking it away from him and dashing into the 18-yard box only to be brought down by Kinshuk Debnath.

The referee pointed straight to the penalty spot and Sunday coolly converted with a superbly placed chip to the left, which United ’keeper Somnath Khanra had no chance of saving.

Thereafter, the disarray in the United gameplan became well evident when a side, who probably were sent in to just wrest a draw, were forced to attack in search of an equaliser.

It was only a lack of patience and imagination that prevented Mohammedan Sporting from further increasing their lead. Mohammedan Sporting, who came on top in the midfield duel, did not attempt to string together passes and penetrate the United defence.

Instead, having won the balls in the mid-field they floated long crosses down the centre, which were easily intercepted by the United defenders.

To be fair, United did defend commendably towards the beginning but were possibly too unnerved by the first goal. Their lone striker, Maxi Miliano, found himself unaided and without any service worth the name.

There were occasions when a second United striker could have latched on to a loose clearance to create trouble for Mohammedan Sporting.

The second goal came after the break in the 52nd minute when a searching cross in from the right side fell kindly for Sunday after defender Ebami had miscued his clearance.

Sunday lost no time in dispatching the ball goalwards where United’s Dhanaraj scrambled to clear it off the line, but the referee adjudged the ball in.

A visibly elated Mohammedan Sporting coach Shabbir Ali said he is happy with the team’s performance despite the limited resources at his disposal. “On the whole the team is playing well. I am happy.”

Man-of-the-Match Sunday sounded composed when was asked to comment on his match-winning performance. “The team comes first. I’m happy that we have three points. That’s more important to me. To play well we have to combine well.”

Teams

Mohammedan Sporting: Naseem Akhtar, R Amala Francis Nova, V. Prem Kumar, Vinu Jose, Bijoy Das, Satyajit Bose (A Jothi Kumar, 63), Lalchhuan Awma, Prasanta Chakraborty, Mir Farroq Hyder, Mike Okoro, Theodore Sunday (Roque Barreto, 88)

United SC: Somnath Khanra, Louice Nigi Ebami, Kinshuk Debnath, Gouranga Dutta (Basudev Mondal, 72), Achinta Saha, Lal Malswama Hamar, Sukhen Dey, Soumik Chakraborty, Dhanaraj R, Barun Oraon (Snehasis Chakraborty, 30), Maxi Miliano (Sankar Oraon, 46)

Referee: Dilip Ghosh

Man of the Match: Theodore Sunday