East Bengal’s Sunil Chhetri (left) congratulates Alvito D’ Cunha after his goal at the Salt Lake Stadium on Monday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta: East Bengal comfortably beat Peerless SC 3-1 in their penultimate Sahara CFL Premier Division match at the Salt Lake Stadium on Monday.

In only the second minute of the match, Sunil Chhetri opened the scoring from a free kick to put East Bengal in the lead. Peerless defender Soumen Sarkar netted in an own goal in the 52nd minute and substitute Alvito D’ Cunha added the third after eight minutes.

Peerless, who face relegation from the Premier Division after this defeat, earned a consolation goal after Ozozie Emmanuel Jr. converted a penalty in the 77th minute.

Despite their early lead, East Bengal appeared lacking in strategy. While Edmilson Marques looked listless on the pitch till coach Manoranjan Bhattacharjee replaced him with Parveen Kumar, the other big names — Mehrajuddin Wadoo, Dharamjit Singh and Alvito (who replaced Dharamjit) — didn’t look promising either.

The attack was solely dependent on Sunil, while Man of the Match Surkumar Singh did the rest to salvage pride for the side after last week’s debacle against United SC.

Having conceded the early blow in the second minute, Peerless strikers grew offensive, unleashing back-to-back forays into the opponent citadel, but a tight red-and-gold defence kept them at bay.

For East Bengal, who now have 24 points from 13 matches, a second-spot finish looks a tough task with Mohammedan Sporting on equal points from 12 outings.

TEAMS

East Bengal: Subrata Paul, Surkumar Singh, Khelemba Singh, Nirmal Chhetri (Suley Musah 85), K. Jibon Singh, Sanju Pradhan, Mehrajuddin Wadoo, Chhangte Malsawmkima, Dharamjit Singh (Alvito D’ Cunha 55), Edmilson Marques (Parveen Kumar 46), Sunil Chhetri

Peerless: Arunava Das, Zoheb Hassan, Soumen Sarkar, Rahul Bhattacherjee, Tarak Mahato, Avinabo Bag, Amit Biswas (Krishna Tudu 66), Ozozie Emmanuel jr, Babin Biswas (Upendra K. Singh 36), Manik Narman, Okoro Nnabuike Praise (T. Suraj Singh 28)

Referee: Tushar Kanti Guha

MoM: Surkumar Singh