Harmanjyot Singh Khabra (left) and Penn Orji. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta: Fourteen straight wins to begin a new season is no mean feat. But those who have watched East Bengal begin their inexorable march this season will, perhaps, agree that the team’s performance has dropped a few pegs down the months.

It can be argued though that form is temporary and class permanent, but East Bengal coach Trevor Morgan was spot on in his assessment of the team’s 1-0 win over Tollygunge Agragami on Wednesday.

“We have been making some wrong decisions in good areas of the pitch. Even today, we probably had five or six good chances, but that’s what makes a player. It is impossible to win games by three or four goals all the time Did anyone expect us to win to win 14 straight games at the start of the season? We are going above expectations at the moment,” Morgan said.East Bengal, so far, have conceded just two goals and scored 31 from nine CFL matches and that explains why every missed opportunity gives rise to so many furrowed eyebrows.

The Federation Cup champions created a number of goal-scoring opportunities, but all went begging owing to lack of precision or last-minute fumbles on Wednesday.

Robin Singh, who was, perhaps, the most industrious player on the pitch failed to open the scoresheet in the 16 th minute.

Ekene slipped in a clever ball on the run and Robin just had to place it on either side of Tollygunge ’keeper Nasibul Haque. But Robin, who got himself into a nice position inside the box, thundered it straight into Nasibul’s hands. It was Penn Orji’s strike in the 25 th minute that broke the deadlock and helped East Bengal maintain their winning streak.

The Nigerian dribbled past Sundarlal Hembram off a Reisangmi Vashum pass and steered it through the far post from the edge of the box. East Bengal survived some anxious moments in the first half. In the 21st minute, the Tollygunge striker latched on to a long ball and tapped it over East Bengal ’keeper Jayanta Paul, who was way out from the goalline. But Nirmal Chetri cleared it in time to save East Bengal the blushes.

Teams

East Bengal: Jayanta Paul, Ravinder Singh, Nirmal Chetri, Uga Okpara (Sunil Kumar 79), Harmanjyot Singh Khabra, Naoba Singh, Ekene Ikenwa (Tolgay Ozebe, 46), Reisangmi Vashum (Sanju Pradhan, 70), Mehtab Hossain, Penn Orji , Robin Singh.

Tollygunge Agragami: Nasibul Haque, Shanku Guha, Louis Ebami, Sundarlal Hembram, Manas Das (Bhargab Guha Thakurata, 61), Raj Ghosh, Kallol Pal, Salau Nuruddin, Crispin Chetri, Amit Kundu, Kartick Kai.

Referee: Dhanapati Roy

MoM: Nasibul Haque