Syed Rahim Nabi, Alvito D’Cunha and Arun Malhotra (left to right), who scored for East Bengal against Mohammedan Sporting on Saturday

Calcutta: East Bengal limped through the first session but gallopped in the second to brush aside Mohammedan Sporting 3-0 in a CFL Premier Division clash under lights at the Salt Lake Stadium on Saturday.

Arun Malhotra put the red-and-golds ahead four minutes into the match. Alvito D’Cunha doubled the advantage nine minutes after half-time, while the prolific Syed Rahim Nabi booted home the third a little later.

East Bengal’s second-half resurgence was all the more creditable as afternoon showers made underfoot conditions treacherous. It took a heavy toll on limbs and muscles, with the referee having to stop the game times without number.

There were a couple of casualties as well, with Covan Lawrence and Jiten Rai colliding mid-air in the 65 th minute and falling heavily on the slippery turf.

Both had gashes on the forehead, and needed five stitches each at IFA’s on-site medical unit. The duo could be out of action for a week.

Till the time he was on field, Rai ? in tandem with Amjad Ali Khan, Satyajit Bose and Ghanaian debutant Patrick D’Souza ? been a source of harassment for the East Bengal defence. Rai, in fact, tried two left-footers which missed the mark by not much. Amjad had done the spadework on both occasions from the right flank.

Just before half-time, Satyajit and Patrick set up an inviting ball into the East Bengal penalty box, but M. Suresh was quicker to the ball than Rai.

East Bengal got an early goal, thanks to Malhotra’s opportunism. As a Jatin Bisht free-kick swerved into the danger zone, the East Bengal defender stretched a leg out amid a forest of defenders and tapped the ball through the untenanted second post.

But for that goal, it was Mohammedan Sporting who called the shots in the first 45 minutes.

The wake-up call must have come in the dressing-room, for East Bengal looked a much sharper outfit after the lemon break. Bisht was captain of the ship, controlling the midfield and switching the ball to the hitherto unused flanks. Side-backs Surya Bikash Chakraborty and Saumik Dey responded well, so did Nabi and D’Cunha.

The hard-running Mohammedan Sporting boys suddenly looked to have run out of gas. Bisht bulldozed his way past Muhammad Mukhtar and laid the ball on a platter for D’Cunha to run in and place it past Gopal Das.

Bisht had a major role in the third goal as well. The energetic medio picked up a pass from D’Cunha and forwarded charge to Nabi. The goal-hungry striker saw custodian Das leaving charge and promptly pushed the ball past him.

This was Nabi’s seventh goal of the competition, putting him on par with Mohun Bagan’s Gley Yao Rodrigue atop the scorers’ list. East Bengal (25 points from 11 matches) may not have any realistic chance of denying Mohun Bagan the title, but Nabi can still pip the Togolese striker to the highest scorer’s accolade.

Nabi, in fact, could have got goal No. 8 on Saturday itself. A Saumik cross found him five yards from the goal, but the ’keeper made a desperate lunge to get the ball out of harm’s way.

TEAMS

East Bengal: Abhra Mondal, Surya Bikash Chakraborty, Covan Lawrence (Deb Kumar Sashmal, 66), M. Suresh, Arun Malhotra, Saumik Dey, Jatin Bisht, Debjit Ghosh, Bernard Pires (Chandan Das, 54), Alvito D’Cunha (S. Malsawmtluanga, 74), Syed Rahim Nabi.

Mohammedan Sporting: Gopal Das, Amjad Ali Khan, Rodnington Sangma, Madhusudan Majumdar, Kabijit Khotel, Palash Karmakar, Jiten Rai (Adil Qadir, 67), Suley Musah, Satyajit Bose, Muhammad Mukhtar (Raman Vijayan, 61), Patrick D’Souza.

Referee: Debasish Mishra.