Bhaichung Bhutia exults after scoring East Bengal’s second goal against Mohammedan Sporting at the Salt Lake Stadium on Sunday. Picture by Santosh Ghosh

Calcutta: Bhaichung Bhutia’s brilliant show, combined with Guy Ndem Herve’s accuracy saw East Bengal through versus Mohammedan Sporting in Round X of the 10th National Football League (NFL) for the ONGC Cup at the Salt Lake Stadium on Sunday. The red-and-gold brigade won 2-0.

East Bengal shot into lead as early as in the second minute via Ndem’s free-kick which dropped short of Mohammedan Sporting goalkeeper Gopal Das who misjudged the uneven bounce and ended up seeing the ball rushing into the net.

Bhaichung, who is in sublime form, proved yet again that he is still the king of Indian football. After getting a through pass from Sasthi Duley from the centre-half, Bhaichung made a solo run into the black-and-white brigade’s citadel in the 51st minute, but his stinging shot was brilliantly saved by an acrobatic Das.

Three minutes later, Bhaichung was fouled by Mohammedan Sporting defender Mir Farooq Hyder just outside the box, which resulted in the latter getting a yellow card. The red-and-gold brigade were awarded with a free-kick. It was Bhaichung’s floating free-kick, after getting deflected of Mohammed Mukhtar’s body, which found the Mohammedan Sporting’s net, only to leave the goalkeeper speechless.

Mohammedan Sporting players had only themselves to blame, since they had the maximum possession of the ball, but chances missed and miss-passes scuppered their chances.

With this win, East Bengal are now on 21 points from 10 matches, while Mohammedan Sporting remain on 14 points from 11 matches.

Teams

East Bengal: Rajat Ghosh Dastidar, Syed Rahim Nabi, M. Suresh, Anupam Sarkar, Sasthi Duley (Debabrata Roy), S. Malsawmtluanga, Guy Ndem Herve, Jayanta Sen, K. Kulothungan (Dipankar Roy 52), Bhaichung Bhutia, Gouranga Dutta.

Mohammedan Sporting: Gopal Das, Mir Farooq Hyder, Madhusudan Majumdar, Madhab Das, David Mkandwire, Palash Karmakar (Nitin Pradhan 84), Satyajit Bose (Bijen Singh 59), Suman Dutta, Jiten Rai (Bijoy Basfore 78), Mohammed Mukhtar, Patrick Okonji.

Referee: M. Mohan (SSCB)