MoM Eduardo Coelho and matchwinner Dharamjit Singh at the Salt Lake Stadium on Monday. Picture by Santosh Ghosh

Calcutta: Mohun Bagan passed the “first real test” under Biswajit Bhattacharya, beating Sporting Clube de Goa 1-0 through Dharamjit Singh’s second-half strike at the Salt Lake Stadium on Monday.

The immediate significance of the win was that the hosts ? who were staring at relegation a few days ago ? were suddenly pitchforked into the provisionally third position on the National Football League (NFL) table. However, the immediate worry after the win was the loss of a key player against their most crucial rivals five days from now.

It was a hard-fought win, which required a lot of character and spirit from the players, but there will be no Eduardo Coelho ? who was adjudged Man-of-the-Match against Sporting ?the key defensive pillar in Biswajit’s scheme of things when they face arch-rivals East Bengal. Both earned a booking on Monday, rendering themselves out of action for the derby on Saturday. If one pits this situation against the backdrop of Bhaichung Bhutia-inspired East Bengal’s goal feast ? nine goals in three matches ? the concerns of the Mohun Bagan coach can easily be understood.

This is future that Biswajit has to ponder over, but the present for his team is a story of amazing transformation, from the squalid to the scintillating.

The win took Mohun Bagan to 17 points from 11 matches ? four points behind provisional league leaders East Bengal. Mahindra United, who were held by Salgaocar in another match on Monday, lie in between them on 20 points with a game in hand.

After Fransa, Air India and Salgaocar, it’s now Sporting’s turn get crushed by the juggernaut, that’s Biswajit’s team.

Sporting are known to be an attacking force. Biswajit’s team did it the other way round ? pushing the visitors to the backfoot right from the word go. A blitzkrieg spell right from the opening minute to the fourth saw Mohun Bagan coming close to scoring on as many as three occasions.

It was then Sporting’s chance to test the other end. A quick one-two with Chidi Edeh helped Dudu Omagbemi open up space in front of the goal, but Dulal Biswas parried the danger in time to deny the Nigerian.

In the 67th minute came the matchwinner from Dharamjit. It was actually a Sushil Singh move that started the flutter in the rival box. Ebrahim chipped a ball over to Sushil, who loosely pushed it while trying to get past the advancing goalkeeper Luis Barreto.

Coffi did the right thing by following the ball after it struck the near post and quickly sent in a cross. Dharamjit came from behind to head home, leaving Suresh David and Felip Gomes flabbergasted.

Teams

Mohun Bagan: Subrata Pal; Manas Das, Sanjeev Maria, Eduardo Coelho, Dulal Biswas, Dharamjit Singh; Noel Wilson, Chinmoy Sarkar (Mehtab Hussain, 38), Coffi Agbessi, Awudu Ibrahim (Tomba Singh, 82), Sushil Singh.

Sporting Clube de Goa: Luis Barreto; Felip Gomes, Suresh David, Matthew Gonsalves (Vincent Pires, 84), Joe Rodrigue, Fernando Bibiano (Alvito Rodrigue, 69), Hardeep Saini (Nicholas Rodrigues, 54), Adewusi Borges, Nicolau Borges, Chidi Edeh, Dudu Omagbemi.

Referee: Rizwan-ul Haq (Delhi).