Mohun Bagan’s Murithala Ali (left) and Edeh Chidi after the win against Mohammedan Sporting, on Thursday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta: For Mohun Bagan fans, Diwali celebrations began a day earlier when their team thrashed Mohammedan Sporting 3-0 in a Premier Division tie of the Calcutta Football League, Thursday evening.

Man of the Match Edeh Chidi’s brace and Murithala Ali’s goal in the second half assured the green and maroon brigade full points and their seventh CFL win on the trot, at the Salt Lake Stadium. With 28 points from 11 matches, they now sit second on the CFL table.

Even though the scoreline read in the favour of the green and maroon brigade at the end of regulation time, it must be noted that they were unable to create any chances before the latter half of the match.

Mohammedan Sporting’s Karthik Kisku missed three opportunities in the otherwise drab first half.

Managing to get past Bagan defenders, he was unable to finish, shooting the ball straight into the hands of Bagan ’keeper Shilton Paul.

On the other hand, Mohammedan Sporting’s five-man defence managed to keep the pressure on Bagan, not allowing the strikers any opening till the 71st minute of the match.

It was only then that Bagan began to show their mettle. Nigerian striker Chidi made full use of the pass he received from substitute Ashim Biswas. Not wasting any time, he slotted the ball home past Mohammedan Sporting ’keeper Manash Barua, who was out of position.

Soon it was the turn of his striking partner, Murithala Ali, to deliver the goods. Making up for a jumbled attempt in the first half, the Nigerian scored off a miss pass in the 85th minute as the Bagan fans, well equipped firecrackers, erupted into celebrations.

Chidi rounded off Bagan’s tally in the 94th minute. Receiving the ball from Kingshuk Debnath, with a quick turn, he shot past a hapless Barua to make it 3-0.

“My boys played well and I’m happy that we got full points,” said a relieved Stanley Rozario.

“Scoring three goals in these sort of matches is always difficult. Our defence was good because we didn’t concede any goals,” the Bagan coach further added.

For Mohammedan Sporting coach Tope Fuja, all he could do was shake his opponents’ hands after the loss.

“We lost our concentration in the last 20 minutes of the tie. Though we played well, our midfield had a problem. Unfortunately, even though we had some chances, the boys were unable to convert them,” said Fuja.

With this loss, Mohammedan Sporting’s aspiration of winning their fifth CFL tie on the trot, under their new Nigerian coach, came to a halt.

In the other two matches of the day, while BNR edged past West Bengal Police 1-0 via a James goal, Aryan Club and Kalighat played a goal-less draw.

Teams

Mohun Bagan: Shilton Paul, Biswajit Saha, Karan Atwal, Sagram Mandi, Kinshuk Debnath, Surabbudin Mullick (David Laibiakzara 92), Souvik Chakraborty (Ashim Biswas 63), Jayanta Sen, Snehasish Chakraborty (Gouranga Dutta 91), Murithala Ali, Edeh Chidi

Mohammedan Sporting: Manash Barua, Habibur Rahman, Sarfaraz Khan, Suman Chandra Dey, David Mkandawire, Adeola Hassan, Mumtaz Akhtar (Dipendu Biswas 84), Lucky Imran, Abebayo Musibao, Mohammed Muktar (Goutam Kujur 80), Kartick Kisku (Satyajit Bose 74)

Referee: Sambhunath Shaw

MoM: Edeh Chidi