Jose ramirez barreto gets past a couple of united sc defenders as venkatesh (partially hidden) follows the move at the salt lake stadium on tuesday. A telegraph picture

Calcutta: Frontrunners Mohun Bagan had counted Chirag United SC as a tough obstacle in their push for the CFL Premier Division crown. Not only because they were stretched the distance in the first phase before salvaging a 4-3 verdict, but also due to the fact that United had not lost any other match in the league this season.

The lackadaisical show by Biswajit Bhattacharya’s team on Tuesday thus surprised many. Two crafty strokes with the right foot (Jose Ramirez Barreto and P.C. Lalawmpuia) and a good connection with the head (Barreto) ensured that the green and maroons ran out 3-0 victors.

Even on a public holiday, not more than a thousand people turned up at the Salt Lake Stadium, perhaps expecting the Twenty20 world champions to explode in 50-50 too. They didn’t miss much, but for two well-executed goals.

Just past the halfway mark, Shanmugham Venkatesh strode down the middle and sought out Barreto with a nicely measured forward pass. The Brazilian knew exactly what Venkatesh was doing, but as he pounced on the ball, he found it running away from him. Then came the stroke of a genius — right foot outstretched, he chipped the ball over advancing goalkeeper Somnath Khara.

It was Barreto’s second goal of the day — which took his league tally to 11 from nine matches (Edmilson Marques is on 10). Ten minutes earlier, Barreto headed in from close range after Khara’s partial clearance off a Lalkamal corner had seen Peter Odafe sending the ball back into the danger zone.

Twenty minutes into the second session, it was Lalkamal Bhowmick who did the spadework for another fine goal. He capped a 30-metre run with a clever pass for Lalawmpuia, having noticed Barreto draw a defender to the other side. The burly striker pushed the ball into the far corner even as Khara made a desperate attempt to thwart him.

Mohun Bagan had enough fizz in the midfield and upfront to dominate proceedings, but the bright patches were in short supply. A period of about 15 minutes in the first half and another brief spell after change of ends made the green and maroons’ day.

They could have doubled the tally had Venkatesh, Lalawmpuia and Lalkamal used the chances that came their way.

United FC — who beat Mohammedan Sporting and drew with East Bengal in the first phase — did some hard running in the opening 45 minutes, with Sasthi Duley and Sankar Oraon taking the lead. But the final pass never materialised.

Biswajit’s men had a dozen cracks at the Mohun Bagan goal, most of which were off target. One effort brought the best out of Shilton Pal, who dived to keep out a smart right-footer from Francis Chibueze.

The only other time United SC threatened the rival goal was towards the end when substitute Asim Das Sr scooped over the ball from close quarters.

TEAMS

Mohun Bagan: Shilton Pal, James Singh, Peter Odafe, Peter Siddiqui, Habibur Rehman Mondal, Anit Ghosh (Rahul Kumar, 74), Lalkamal Bhowmick, Shanmugham Venkatesh (Sewram Gobin, 77), Dharamjit Singh (Ishfaq Ahmed, 83), Jose Ramirez Barreto, P.C. Lalawmpuia

Chirag United SC: Somnath Khara, Dulal Biswas, Kingshuk Debnath, Louis Ebami, R. Dhanranjan, Achintya Saha (Asim Das Sr, 70), Asim Das Jr (Gour Sankar Dutta, 72), Mrinmoy Chakraborty (Barun Oraon, 48), Sasthi Duley, Sankar Oraon, Francis Chibueze

Referee: Debashish Mishra