Bhaichung Bhutia is obstructed by Churchill Brothers defender Osumanu Husseini during their match at the Salt Lake Stadium on Friday. The obstruction yielded a red card for the defender after Alvito D'Cunha (above) had put the red-golds up 2-0

Calcutta: East Bengal once again moved to the top of the table when they outplayed Churchill Brothers of Goa through an Alvito D?Cunha brace in their 17th round National Football League match for the ONGC Cup under the floodlights at the Salt lake Stadium on Friday.

The defending Champions are on 36 points ? one point more than second placed Sporting Clube de Goa (after Thursday?s win versus Mohun Bagan) ? while Churchill Brothers slipped further as they remained on 17 from as many matches.

After losing the last match against Fransa Pax, East Bengal started on a positive note and pushed the Goan team against the wall within first 10 minutes. The Churchill defence ? comprising Satish Bharti, Osumanu Husseini, Subhasish Roy Chowdhury ? was outmanoeuvred by the red-gold attack.

Bhaichung Bhutia was not anywhere near his best, but Alvito covered everything and played a stellar role in carving out the much-desired victory for the holders.

East Bengal managed four back-to-back flag-kicks in the tenth minute and the Churchill goalie Reagan Alemao and defenders had tough time to prevent East Bengal from drawing first blood.

The Goans were only successful till only the 18th minute. In the next minute, Bhaichung inside the box, set one up for Alvito, who took a prompt volley to make it 1-0 for his team. Even after getting the goal, East Bengal forwards never looked satisfied and the opponent defenders were found wanting in tackling the situation.

East Bengal could have enhanced the margin thereafter, but failed to do so as Ernest Jeremiah wasted several opportunities by holding the ball a little too long. Had Jeremiah played a sensible game, East Bengal could have won by at least four goals.

Juliano Martins, who figured in the final XI on this day, had to be withdrawn after he was injured in a rough tackle.

When everyone was looking for the long whistle from the referee to indicate half time, East Bengal made it 2-0, all of a sudden in the stoppage time. Jeremaih unleashed a measured through for Alvito on the left of the box and Alvito?s firm left-footer went home. The Churchill goalie, who didn?t cover the first post, was somewhat responsible for making it easier for Alvito, who was rightly adjudged the Man of the Match.

After the change of sides, it seemed that Churchill would give the hosts a run for their money, but East Bengal defence proved too good for the likes of Marcos Perriera and Yusif Yakubu.

In the meantime, East Bengal coach Subhas Bhowmick had made a couple of replacements to provide the side with fresh pairs of legs. Sandip Das replaced Jeremiah and Gurpreet Singh came in place of Surya Bikash Chakraborty.

Last, but not the least, Bhaichung, who had very little role today put the final nail in the opponents? coffin.

He was brought down by Osumanu just outside the box and the referee, quite logically, flashed the red card as the Indian captain had only the goalie to beat for the team?s third goal.

East Bengal will miss Bhaichung in their match against Mohun Bagan on April 24. He picked up his second yellow card of the league Friday.

TEAMS

East Bengal: Rajat Ghosh Dastidar, Surya Bikash Chakraborty (Gurpreet Singh, 72), Habibur Rahman Mondal, Selwyn Fernandes, M. Suresh, Sasthi Duley, Climax Lawrence, Ernest Jeremiah (Sandip Das, 64), Alvito D?Cunha, Bhaichung Bhutia, Juliano Martins (Bijen Singh, 35).

Churchill Brothers: Reagan Alemao, Subhasish Roy Chowdhury (Sanjay Parte 47), Satish Bharti, Osumanu Husseini, Mir Farooq Hyder, Sujay Dutta, Roque Barreto, Aqueel Ansari (Chitrasen Singh 82), Ratan Singh (Vanlai Rova 59), Yusif Yakubu, Marcos Perriera.

Referee: Saji Kurien (Kerala).