WB Police reserve goalkeeper Palash Kundu watches the proceedings from the bench, on Tuesday. He was, in fact, the lone substitute at the team’s disposal. So, it’s easy to guess why WB Police refrained from substituting any of their players. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta: It is supposed to be the Premier Division of the Calcutta Football League. Yet, the standard on display drops to amateurish levels time and again.

The highlight of Mohun Bagan’s 4-0 victory over West Bengal Police SC, on Tuesday, was not that the green and maroon brigade toyed with their opponents, but the bizarre circumstances in which the match was played.

The existing gap between the big clubs of Maidan and smaller ones is already of a mind-boggling proportion. Then, it is easy to imagine what the standard of the game will be if one of the so-called smaller clubs field their third choice team against one of their bigger counterparts.

Similar was the case on Tuesday. West Bengal Police fielded their third team, which included three under-19 players, against Bagan.

Their reserve bench was even weirder with just one player available for substitution. And to top it all, that very player — Palash Kundu — was a goalkeeper.

But what led to such a situation?

West Bengal Police coach Ashok Chakraborty blamed the Indian Football Association (IFA) for the situation.

“Twenty of our players have left for Jalandhar where they will be participating in the Police Games. We had written to the IFA almost a month back requesting them to adjust our dates. “We even reminded them about the matter a couple of days back. But they declined our request,” the coach said.

Utpal Ganguli, the IFA secretary, however had a different story to narrate. “We had a meeting with the club. The Jalandhar meet is from November 13… I don’t see a reason why they should leave the city on November 8. I had even proposed to change their tickets… But they declined the offer, saying they will field whatever team they have at their disposal,” Ganguli said.

Actually, it doesn’t really matter which party is guilty, since the game is the sufferer in any case.

Coming back to the irritatingly one-sided match, Bagan opened the floodgates in the 21st minute when Edeh Chidi latched on to a Murithala Ali through pass, dodged a couple of defenders before he beat the ’keeper with a low shot.

Then in the 44th minute, Murithala earned Bagan a penalty and did needful himself. Souvik Chakraborty, who is improving with every match, let fly a scorching right-footer to make it 3-0 in the 70 th minute.

Snehasish Chakraborty rounded off the tally in 87th minute with a brilliant solo effort.

Teams

Mohun Bagan: Shilton Paul, Kinshuk Debnath, Sagram mandi, Karan Atwal, Dhanarajan, Gouranga Biswas (Snehasish Chakraborty, 68), Jayanta Sen, Souvik Chakraborty, David Laibiakzara (Surabuddin Mullick, 66), Murithala Ali, Edeh Chidi (Ashim Biswas, 45)

West Bengal Police SC: Soumava Ghosh, Himadri Chakraborty, Prayashu Halder, Dipankar Bhattacharya, Sajal Seal, Washimuddin Ahmed, Sujoy Mondal, Dipak Mahato, Soumava Ghosh, Bhaskar Baidya, Rabi Afhikary, Santanu Dey

Referee: Barun Saha