Calcutta: East Bengal defeated Peerless SC 2-0 in Sunday's CFL Premier Division A game at the Kalyani Stadium. Rahul Bheke and Arnab Mondal scored one goal each for East Bengal.

Had Do Dong Hyun not missed a penalty, the margin would have been bigger for East Bengal.

With their second consecutive win, East Bengal now have six points from two matches and moved top of the table.

East Bengal coach Trevor James Morgan made two changes in the starting XI. Somide Adelaja made his debut for East Bengal, while Arnab Mondal came in place of the injured Lalrindika Ralte and played in Callum Angus's position.

Morgan's men started the game in an attacking mode. Adelaja got a good opportunity to score from inside 18 yards but could not capitalise. East Bengal, though, did not have to wait longer for the first goal as Bheke nodded in an inch perfect corner-kick from Mehtab Hussain in the 18th minute. The lead was doubled just after 12 minutes as Arnab scored in a similar fashion.

In the 34th minute of the match, Dong missed the penalty, shooting straight at rival custodian Shankar Roy.

In the second half, East Bengal got a few more chances but could not take advantage of those. Later, Angus came in as a substitute for Dong and played in a different position, as left-winger. But his performance again was not impressive.

Morgan, however, was happy with three points East Bengal secured. "A win was important and we got that.

"But yes, we do need to improve in various departments," the coach said.

Asked whether he was satisfied with Dong's performance, Morgan said: "He tried his best. If I would like to say something to him that will definitely be inside the dressing room. Yes, he missed the penalty, something that I have also done during my playing days.

"Players missing chances is not important. They played good and united for the team. That is important and I liked that."

TEAMS

East Bengal: Luis Barreto; Rahul Bheke, Arnab Mondal, Gurwinder Singh, Narayan Das; Abinash Ruidas (Robert Lalthlamuana, 73), Do Dong Hyun (Callum Angus, 72), Mehtab Hussain, Mohammed Rafique; Jiten Murmu, Somide Adelaja.

Peerless: Shankar Roy; Arijit Bagui, Ugochukwu Godswill, Akhil Rajbangshi, Irfan Khan; Arghya Chakravarty, Kallol Pal (Rahul Jaiswal, 74),Sukhwinder Singh, Anil Kisku (Laxmi Kanta Mandi, 54); Syed Rahim Nabi (Sourav Mallick, 86), Agogo Kromah.

Referee: Animesh Biswas

MoM: Arnab Mondal