Scorers Reisangmi Vashum (from left), Ryuji Sueoka and Seiminlen Doungel, on Sunday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta: Kingfisher East Bengal ticked the two most important boxes on Sunday. They won the match and they scored three goals without conceding any.

Their 3-0 victory over Army XI in a CFL Premier Division match, at the Salt Lake Stadium, without quite a few of their first XI players proved why many believe that they have the best team this season. To be precise, they probably have the best reserve bench this season.

Ryuji Sueoka, Seiminlen Doungel and Reisangmi Vashum were the scorers. Strictly speaking, there wasn’t anything beautiful in East Bengal’s game on Sunday. Rather, it were the Army boys who were threatening to score first with their fast game and clean passing.

While many teams could have got a little nervous under such pressure from the underdogs, East Bengal responded wonderfully, answering Army’s fast game with even faster down-the-flank forays.

The efforts paid off just after the half-an-hour mark. Army’s Rojen Meetei’s handball within the box earned East Bengal a spot-kick, which Sueoka converted with ease.

The goal didn’t demoralise Army and they looked composed enough to find the equaliser. But the second goal, in the 38th minute, shattered them. This time, James Moga’s centre from right found Doungel clear in the box. The youngster, who messed up chances galore on the day, managed to push it in past the hapless ’keeper.

The third goal, in the 82nd minute, was courtesy Vashum’s super shooting. From about 30 yards away, his left-footed diagonal grounder beat the ’keeper.

Army, too, went close to scoring on a couple of occasions. But be it Shadip Rai’s powerful volley or Sanal’s strong header, East Bengal ’keeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was up to the task. The match also saw Moga’s usual antics — stomping off the ground and kicking a water bottle — when he was replaced in the second half. But coach Armando Colaco was in a forgiving mood.

Teams

East Bengal: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Saumik Dey, Gurwinder Singh, Arnab Mondal, Naoba Singh, Harmanjyot Singh Khabra, Ryuji Sueoka, Mehtab Hussain (Alvito D’Cunha, 71), Reisangmi Vashum (Baljit Sahni, 85), Seiminlen Doungel, James Moga (Subodh Kumar, 76)

Army XI: KK Zaman, Rojen Meetei, Anthony Chetri, Santu Subba (Jain P, 90), Kiran Vargheshe, DK Mahato, Shadip Rai, Lalramneingmawia (Rocky Kom, 67), Vipin TV, Herojit Singh (Sanal, 67), Arjun Tudu

Referee: Subrata Barman

MoM: Seiminlen Doungel