Mohun Bagan scorers Dipendu Biswas, Mehtab Hussain and Jerry Zirsanga (left to right) after the match at Kalyani Stadium on Tuesday. Picture by Gautam Bose

Calcutta: Mohun Bagan are on a roll. A team riding high on momentum.

Against Calcutta Port Trust (CPT) in Kalyani on Tuesday, it seemed like they had let the match off their hands after Sujit Dey had neutralised Mehtab Hussain’s early lead. CPT were suddenly calling the shots in the rival box with barely seven minutes to go for the scheduled close.

Then as substitutes Dipendu Biswas volleyed in a Dharamjit Singh corner and Jerry Zirsanga enhanced the lead, CPT’s flutter faded into a whimper. The green-and-maroon had recorded their ninth consecutive victory in the Premier Division.

There was, however, no doubting Mohun Bagan’s dominance in the match. Trump card Gley Yao Rodrigue may have not scored a goal, but his deft touches and quick interchange of positions had left the rival defence in tatters. He combined well with Manjit Singh and the latter squandered a sitter early in the second half following one such move.

Mohun Bagan took the lead in the 27 th minute. Dharamjit’s centre was put out of harm’s way by goalkeeper Gaurav Ganguly and as Rodrigue pushed the ball into the penalty area Mehtab was at hand to flick it into the goal. CPT players and coach Bhaskar Ganguly vehemently protested the goal claiming Mehtab to be in an off-side position.

It even led to referee Jayanta Sarkar ‘cautioning’ Bhaskar twice. The move did cool tempers for a while.

On display was also the former India captain’s son Gaurav, who had a decent outing. Despite conceding three goals, he showed promise. The most striking aspect was his anticipation and his dare devil attitude in rushing out of the goalmouth in one-to-one situations.

CPT restored parity in the 61 st minute. Sujit’s powerful header off a Kamal Bhuinya header was bang on target giving goalie Subrata Pal no chance.

A little later Dharamjit’s shot was saved on the goalline by Soumen Sarkar after Gaurav had rushed out in an attempt to foil Rodrigue and had failed to reach his position back on time.

Dipendu finally put Mohun Bagan ahead again almost after taking the field. The firm volley came after the ball had bounced back off Harvinder following Dharamjit’s corner.

Zirsanga’s goal followed a minute later. Dharamjit’s centre from the left was slotted well to the left of the goalie.

Another chance went abegging during injury time when Dipendu’s grounder was off target by a few inches.

TEAMS

Mohun Bagan: Subrata Pal, Sanjay Parte, Mehrajuddin Wadao, Dulal Biswas, Subhasis Roy Chowdhury, Mehtab Hussain, Noel Wilson (Harvinder Singh, 41), Sankho Roy Chowdhury (Dipendu Biswas, 83), Dharamjit Singh, Manjit Singh (Jerry Zirsanga, 64), Gley Yao Rodrigue.

CPT: Gaurav Ganguly, Tapan Das, Soumen Sarkar, Rabindranath Karmakar, Kamal Bhuinya, Koushik Prasad, Amar Pyne, Pradip Indu, Sandip Ghosh, Sujit Dey, Suman Ghosh.

Referee: Jayanta Sarkar.