By IANS
Kolkata : Baichung Bhutia scored the winner for Mohun Bagan in Sunday’s derby match against East Bengal in the crucial eighth round of the I-league football tournament here.
Bagan now have 11 points from eight games, while Federation Cup winners East Bengal seven from as many games.
The inevitable happened in the 61st minute when Brazilian Douglas D’Silva sent a cross from the top of the box that Jose Ramires Barreto headed for unmarked Bhutia who in turn nodded home.
East Bengal came out firing on all cylinders, but the numerous raids bore no fruit as neither Edmilson Marques nor Ashim Biswas lived to their billing inside the box.
The first half belonged to Tamil Nadu star referee K. Shankar. In the first 20 minutes he showed his intent, flashing six yellow cards. Three East Bengal players who saw the cards were Mehtab Hossain, Edmilson and Mehrajuddin Wadoo, while for the green-maroons it was Bhutia, Habibur Rehman and Douglas.
This apart the game never saw any disciplined raid from either side. Neither could East Bengal weave any creativity into their move, not did Mohun bagan showany earnest effort other than the sporadic bursts of Jose Barreto and Bhutia.
It was Douglas who showed the first signs of aggression in the opening minute and thereafter the match turned listless. Two other chances worth mentioning came in the 14th minute and 34th minute. In the first case Baichung’s angled vollwy from within the box was parroed away by Subrata Paul and in the second case Ashim Biswas could not capitalise on a faulty defensive clearance as his weak grounder softly nested into Shilton Paul.