By IANS
Ludhiana : JCT, Phagwara had the last laugh at their home turf as and took a sweet revenge as they thrashed East Bengal 3-0 in the 11th round of the I-League football tournament here Monday.
The Kolkata team had happy memories from their last encounter at the Guru Nanak stadium, where they won the Federation Cup, but Brazilian Eduardo Escobar starred for the home team and put East Bengal in a spot of bother as they are now in the relegation zone. The last time both the team met at the same venue, East Bengal won 3-2 en route to the Federation Cup title.
The Brazilian striker struck in the 38th minute and also set-up two for Baljit Singh Sahni and Baldeep Singh to make amends for their disappointing 1-3 away loss to Mahindra United in the last round.
With the win JCT closed the gap with leaders Dempo (27 points)and they now have 22 points from 11 matches. East Bengal slipped one place to the ninth spot in the 10-team tournament and have eight points.
JCT were always on the top right from the start as Eduardo picked up a lose ball to feed Baljit, whose scorching right-footer crashed into the net in the fifth minute.
Three minutes later, the lanky Brazilian was again the centre of the action as he raced in East Bengal citadel dodging past three defenders and gave a pass to Baldeep, who tapped it into the net to double the lead.
Eduardo’s moment came in the 38th minute of play, when he was brought down in the penalty area by a defender and he made no mistake with the penalty kick. The second half was a lacklustre affair with both teams confining themselves to the middle.