Calcutta: Some may say it’s too early to predict, but Cameroon’s Pierre Boya, in just his second appearance for McDowell Mohun Bagan, proved himself to be a quality foreign recruit, an area where the city giants have faltered time and again in the recent past.

Displaying intelligent skills, Boya scored his first goal in Bagan colours as Subhas Bhowmick’s men registered an easy 2-0 win over Kalighat MS in Wednesday’s CFL Championship Round clash, here, at the Salt Lake Stadium.

Balwant Singh was the other scorer for Bagan, who for the first time after two years recorded three successive victories in the CFL.

Bagan held the upper hand from the onset with Boya putting them ahead in the 24th minute. Katsumi Yusa, looking even better and sharper this season, unleashed a swerving free-kick as Boya came up with a smart header to beat the rival goalkeeper all ends up.

Within a couple of minutes, Bagan doubled their lead when Balwant converted off Jeje Lalpekhlua’s long ball. As expected, the Kalighat MS defence was in complete disarray. The stopper-backs seemed to be having an early evening nap, allowing the unmarked Balwant with a free header.

Bagan could have scored at least two more, but attempts from Boya and Jeje were just wide of the target. The spark in Bagan’s attacks was lost somewhat post the breather, but Bhowmick wasn’t too worried about it, more so, as his team could bank on the class of someone like Boya.

Apart from being a constant threat in the 18-yard circle, Boya has the quality of moving back to the midfield and trying to take control of it. Twice in the game, in each halves, Boya sent in two wonderful through balls for Balwant and Katsumi, which could well have resulted in goals on another day.

“It’s always satisfying to score your first goal for your new team. But the important thing is, we’re improving with every game,” Boya said after the match.

TEAMS

Mohun Bagan: Shilton Paul; Satish Singh, Kinshuk Debnath, Dhanachandra Singh, Souvik Chakrabarti; Shehnaj Singh, Shouvik Ghosh, Katsumi Yusa; Jeje Lalpekhlua (Sabeeth Sathyan, 46), Pierre Boya, Balwant Singh (Ram Malik, 78)

Kalighat MS: Suvam Sen; Kaushik Biswas, Sukanta Mondal (Mohammed Shah Alam Gazi, 88), Rana Gharami; Arijit Bagui (Saumava Das, 90), Pradip Roy, Bhim Oraon, Sukanta Banerjee; Saurav Mallick, A. Waheed

MoM: Shehnaj Singh

Referee: Ranjit Bakshi