East Bengal?s Bhaichung Bhutia attempts an overhead kick as Tollygunge players Debkumar Sasmal (right) and Saumik Dey watch during their National League tie at Salt Lake Stadium on Friday. Picture by Santosh Ghosh

Calcutta: The much-hyped East Bengal forwardline was kept in check by the Tollygunge Agragami defenders till the 67th minute before Bijen Singh scored the winner to collect three points from their National Football League match for the ONGC Cup.

At the Salt Lake Stadium on Friday, Bhaichung Bhutia-Ernest Jeremiah combination seemed helpless in front of Isiaka Awoyemi-Debkumar Sashmal pair.

With this win, East Bengal remain on top with 33 points while Tollygunge are on 15.

Perhaps after losing 0-5 to East Bengal in the first leg, Tollygunge coach Biswajit Das had done his homework better.

From the inception, East Bengal tried to penetrate through the middle via Bhaichung or Jeremiah, but were thwarted by heavyweight Isiaka and Sasmal.

Realising that it will be easier if they use the flanks, the defending champions tried to spread the game. But Shylo Malsawmtluanga and Habibur Rahman Mondal failed to impress even by changing flanks.

In almost all the occasions, they reached the goalmouth only to draw a blank as Tollygunge players came to the rescue of the defenders. The red-and-golds created at least a dozen chances in the 90-minute affair.

?They played a superb defensive game, it was extremely difficult for us to score,? East Bengal coach Subhas Bhowmick admitted in the post-match media conference.

Bhaichung was kept under strict marking and so was Jeremiah. It would have been better for East Bengal had Jeremiah not held on to the ball for too long.

Syed Rahim Nabi, who had had a great season, found it tough to disturb the scorers. Debjit Ghosh tried his bit in the central midfield. Though he failed to net the ball, it fetched him the Man of the Match award, which could have been given to Isiaka without any hesitation.

After the lemon break, Bhowmick planned differently.

He made three changes in 12 minutes (from 54th to 65th). Dipankar Roy for Habibur, Subhas Chakraborty replaced Jeremiah and Bijen Singh came in place of Chandan Das. The result followed in the next two minutes.

Entering the ground, the first thing that Bijen did was to score the winner. With the flanks operating smoothly through Subhas and Dipankar, East Bengal took charge of the proceedings. Bijen flicked home Subhas? cross from the right to seal the fate of the match.

With his knack of scoring at the right moment, Bijen has given coach Bhowmick some food for thought. He will now have to think twice before preparing the final XI for the next match against Al Faisaly of Jordan on Wednesday. Particularly, after the Subhas, Dipankar and Bijen show.

TEAMS

East Bengal: Rajat Ghosh Dastidar, Habibur Rahman Mondal (Dipankar Roy 54), Selwyn Fernandez, Debjit Ghosh, Syed Rahim Nabi, Shylo Malsawmtluanga, Chandan Das (Bijen Singh 65), Climax Lawrence, Madhab Das, Ernest Jeremiah (Subhas Chakraborty 60), Bhaichung Bhutia.

Tollygunge Agragami: Arindam Ghosh, Santosh Singh, Isiaka Awoyemi, Debkumar Sasmal, Saumik Dey, Suman Dutta (jr) (Pankaj Basak 52), Nilavo Chakraborty, Chinmoy Sarkar, Suman Dutta (Suman Ghosh 80), Surajit Bose, Akeem Abolanle.

Referee: Dinesh Nair (Gujarat).

PTI adds from Margao: Dempo edged past Salgaocar 3-2. The title aspirants scored through Ranty Martins (19th), Nacimento Silveira (45th) and substitute Kasun Jayasuriya (82nd). Salgaocar reduced the margin through Bello Rasaq (36th) and Felix Ibrebru (84th).