East Bengal’s Cristiano Junior heads in his second goal against Mohammedan Sporting at the Salt Lake Stadium on Thursday. Picture by Santosh Ghosh

Calcutta: It took just a seven-minute blitz for East Bengal to blow Mohammedan Sporting away in their Round 18 clash of the National Football League (NFL) at the Salt Lake Stadium on Thursday.

Cristiano Junior continued his goal-scoring spree with a couple of copy-book headers, extending his tally to 12 in 13 matches, while Bhaichung Bhutia hammered the final nail into the rivals’ coffin with a brilliant strike (his tenth goal in the tournament). And all this happened in a blazing period of the match — between the 58th and to 65th minutes.

The win helped East Bengal consolidate their position with 40 points, five clear of nearest rivals Dempo SC. Mohammedan Sporting, on the other hand, remained on 18.

Three minutes after the break, off an aerial clash with Chandan Das, Syed Hussain suffered a concussion and had to be hospitalised.

Following the barren first half, East Bengal brought about a significant change in strategy by replacing Alvito D’Cunha with Dipankar Roy in the 57th minute. Dipankar started in the left wing and as Sasthi Duley switched to the right, the two managed a measure of the target better, with crosses cutting inside instead of swinging away. That put the Mohammedan Sporting defence — looking suspect in dealing with aerial balls — under more pressure.

Dipankar’s first move, a minute after his arrival, opened up the floodgates. His right-footed floater from the left was brilliantly met in the air by Junior, evading marker Madhab Das. Goalkeeper Gumpe Rime was immobile on his line, watching the ball go in.

The second goal came within three minutes and it was a replica of the first, only this time it was Sasthi who crossed, and Junior was to rise above a host of Mohammedan Sporting players to head home.

Incidentally, Junior passed a fitness test only hours before the match.

Sasthi, however, will miss the Derby clash with Mohun Bagan, after receiving his second yellow card.

If the first two goals had something to do with strategy, the third — in the 65th minute — had individual brilliance written all over it. By the time the India captain had received the ball from Shylo Malsawmtluanga, he had noticed left-back Amandeep Singh coming from behind to challenge. Bhaichung deftly lobbed the ball over Amandeep’s head, and before it touched the ground, struck a thunderous volley on turning back which gave Rime no time to move.

Mohammedan Sporting coach Jamshed Nassiri predictably aimed for a draw, crowding the area and keeping both Junior and Bhaichung under man-marking.

In the very second move of the match, in the second minute itself, Alvito, playing a one-two with Bhaichung, worked his way towards the goal, but couldn’t deliver. Then in the 22nd minute, Bhaichung again released a ball for Alvito near the six-yard box, but the latter, instead of taking a shot himself, pushed it for Junior at the far end, allowing the defenders to clear the danger.

Having succeeded in holding the leaders in the first half, Mohammedan Sporting continued to remain in safety-first mode as East Bengal made full use of the free space in the middle. At that time, the goal looked always on the cards and Dipankar’s introduction eventually changed everything.

Bhowmick, however, still felt the path to success has hardly smoothened. “It’s still a long way to go. But we’ve to do our basic duties correctly,” he told reporters after the match.

Nassiri, on the other hand, talked about “two wins in the final four matches” to stay in the elite league.

TEAMS

East Bengal: Sandip Nandy; S. Malsawmtluanga, M. Suresh, Debjit Ghosh, Mahesh Gawli (Subhashish Roy Chowdhury, 38); Sasthi Duley, Mike Okoro, Chandan Das, Alvito D’Cunha (Dipankar Roy, 58); Cristiano Junior, Bhaichung Bhutia (Raman Vijayan, 68).

Mohammedan Sporting: Gumpe Rime; Amjad Ali Khan, Abu Bakar Godwin, Satish Bharti, Amandeep Singh, Bhuvan Joshi, Dipankar Chatterjee (Syed Hussain 46, Arjan Ali 48), Madhab Das, Okoli Onyeka Odafa (Zaheer Abbas, 76), Manash Das, Dipendu Biswas.

Referee: Mirnal Kanti Roy (Assam).