Teammates congratulate Douglas after he got the equaliser versus CFC on Thursday

Calcutta: Subhas Bhowmick, the strategist, has this habit of falling back on his rearguard to pump up the frontal vacuum, particularly when the chips are down. Two years ago, Suley Musah delivered as a forward, almost single-handedly winning the IFA Shield.

This season, it’s Douglas da Silva’s turn. With Bhaichung Bhutia doing national duty in Vietnam, the Brazilian was pitchforked into the striking zone soon after his return from home a month ago. From Day I, he has been spot-on, Thursday being no exception as he netted his seventh goal to help the defending champions avoid defeat in their CFL Super Division match with CFC.

CFC took the lead against the run of play through Nwaeke Martin Harrison, five minutes into the second session.

East Bengal, having wasted a handful of first-half opportunities, looked clueless in the pursuit to maintain their unbeaten run. The defence was feeling the pressure, committing uncharacteristic mistakes.

Three minutes after scoring, the Nigerian should have doubled East Bengal’s agony. He had before him an absolutely open goal, but slipped while controlling a square pass from Somnath Debnath.

But Douglas was there — jostling, running, firing angers at teammates, and always keen to score. His perseverance paid off in the 62nd minute when he met a right-flank cross from Shylo Malsawmtluanga with a perfectly placed header.

East Bengal are now on 28 points from 12 matches while CFC took their tally to 10 from 11 games.

Teams

East Bengal: Subhashish Roy Chowdhury, Sandip Das, Louis Aniweta, Selwyn Fernandes (Dipankar Roy 22), Madhab Das (Gurpreet Singh 90), Shylo Malsawmtluanga, Chandan Das, Bhola Prasad (Tushar Rakshit 46), Sasthi Duley, Douglas da Silva, Syed Rahim Nabi.

CFC: Pankaj Mallick; Kutubuddin Sepoy, Sumit Sengupta, Binod Mal, Sudip Das (Ganesh Das 89), Nilkamal Mondal, Sujit Neogi (Swarup Chatterjee 70), Somnath Debnath (Niladri Chakraborty 83), Dipankar Chatterjee, Nwaeke Martin Harrison, Chimaokwu Felix.

Referee: Mriganshu Bhattacharya.

Md. Sp. win again

Mohammedan Sporting notched up a comfortable 3-1 win over Ever-Ready — their third successive win at the Kalyani Stadium. Raman Vijayan and Henry Chukwukei (2) scored for the winners while Sankha Roy Chowdhury pulled one back for Ever-Ready.

At the Howrah Stadium, Mohammedan AC got past Peerless 1-0.