Calcutta: After a dull first half devoid of rhythm and coherence, East Bengal coach Manoranjan Bhattacharjee was seen praying fervidly at the beginning of the second.

Railway FC coach Sourin Dutta was praying too, and by the end of the second half it was clear that it was the red-and-gold brigade the gods favoured in the Sahara CFL Premier League tie Saturday.

A valiant Railway FC played with resolve and determination and held the red-and-golds at bay for 78 minutes. But that was all they could manage.

After Mehrajuddin’s fortuitous header off an Alvito D’Cunha free kick in the 78th minute opened the scoring for East Bengal, the goals came all in a heap.

In fact, so even was the contest till East Bengal threw open the sluice gates in the last quarter of the match, there’s practically nothing worth a mention from the first half.

A fact confirmed by Manoranjan Bhattacharjee when he told the media: “We played wrong football in the first half. Our midfield was non-existent”.

In the end, a side which has the celebrated Sunil Chhetri, and the wily Alvito had to prevail.

After Alvito replaced an injured Rennedy Singh in the 53rd minute, and Marques substituted Malsawmkima, East Bengal began to look threatening.

There was an element of serendipity surrounding East Bengal’s goals. The second came in the 82nd minute when Man of the Match Sanju Pradhan burst down the left and played the ball in which Marques tapped into an empty goal—the Railway FC ‘keeper looking helplessly on.

The third goal followed two minutes later when Pradhan again played provider, this time with a searching cross down the right which Chhetri superbly guided in with his head.

TEAMS

East Bengal: Abhra Mondal, Nirmal Chhetri, Suley Musah, M. Suresh, Syed Rahim Nabi, Sanju Pradhan (Dipankar Roy, 87), Mehrajuddin Wadoo, Chhangte Malsawmkima (Edmilson Marques, 73), P. Rennedy Singh (Alvito D'Cunha, 53), Ashim Biswas, Sunil Chhetri.

Railway FC: Rakesh Prasad, Mujaffar Rahaman, Sagram Mandi, Avijit Dutta, Nilangshu Mitra, Munna Mallick, Santosh Oran (Sankho Roy Choudhury, 81), Tarak Nath, Sarnava Borua, Kaltu Hembrem(Sudipta Banik, 87), Sanjib Mishra.

Referee: Debasis Mishra

Man of the Match: Sanju Pradhan