East Bengal’s Douglas da Silva tries to get past Ever-Ready defender Anupam Sarkar during their Super Division match at the East Bengal ground on Tuesday. Picture by Santosh Ghosh

Calcutta: An opportunistic Syed Rahim Nabi helped East Bengal continue their winning run as the defending champions got the better of Ever-Ready 1-0 in their CFL Super Division match at their home ground on Tuesday.

Nabi found the target in the 60th minute, when his sharp reaction from a melee following a Sasthi Duley floater from the left decided the fate of the match.

The win also opened up East Bengal’s three-point lead over arch-rivals Mohun Bagan. Subhas Bhowmick’s boys are now on 24 points from 11 matches, while Ever-Ready, despite the loss, are maintaining their third position with 19 off 10 games.

East Bengal looked rudderless until veteran Tushar Rakshit came in as the 24th minute replacement for Selwyn Fernandes. While negotiating the rugged, rain-scarred ground meant a testing time for players of both teams, East Bengal started cautiously, perhaps keeping the Ever-Ready’s Nigerian duo — Eugene Gray and Earnest Jeremiah — in mind. Sandip Das was operating as a sweeper as Louis Aniweta planted a close eye on Jeremiah.

Tushar, however, somehow managed to change the scenario as he started feeding the flanks. Still there was no positive goalmouth move from the red-and-gold outfit.

The change of sides also saw a change in East Bengal’s strategy of using the wings more profusely and Tushar weaving the moves through the middle. Douglas failed to keep the ball on target while S. Malsawmtluanga missed another before Nabi settled the issue.

Sandip, who played with a head injury, fell on the ground soon after the match. “He remained senseless for about three minutes. He’s okay now,” Bhowmick said.

After the match, the home supporters heckled referee Subrata Sarkar, who had, however, officiated quite commendably. The police picked up two fans (who were later released) while rescuing Sarkar, himself a sub-inspector. Bhowmick intervened on the club’s behalf to set things in order.

TEAMS

East Bengal: Rajat Ghosh Dastidar (Subhashish Roy Chowdhury 61); Louis Aniweta, Madhab Das, Selwyn Fernandes (Tushar Rakshit 24, Sujoy Dutta 90+), Sandip Das; Sasthi Duley, Chandan Das, Surya Bikash Chakraborty, Syed Rahim Nabi; Douglas da Silva, Shylo Malsawmtluanga.

Ever-Ready: Amit Singha Roy; Rajib Ahmed, Anupam Sarkar, Manoj Joshi, Bimal Sarkar, Satyajit Basu (Surajit Chakraborty jr 34), Surajit Chakraborty Sr (Tapan Giri 61), Babun Kar, Eugene Gray, Chrispen Chhetri (Sheikh Sanjib 85), Earnest Jeremiah.

Referee: Subrata Sarkar.

Md. Sp. win, Tolly draw

Mohammedan Sporting continued their winning streak with a 2-0 victory over Eastern Railway at the Kalyani Stadium. Shaikh Habib Ali and Henry Chukwukei scored apiece in the second session.

The Tollygunge Agragami-Mohammedan AC match at the Howrah Stadium ended 1-1 while Wari and FCI failed to break the deadlock.