By IANS
Kolkata : Riding a hat-trick by Jose Ramirez Barreto, Mohun Bagan felled Mohammedan Sporting 3-0, while Mahindra United drubbed East Bengal 2-0 in the IFA Shield here Saturday.
In the third match of the day Churchill Brothers and Dhaka Mohameddan Sporting played out a goalless draw.
Thus, with four points Churchill are virtually through to the semi-finals, while the Mohun Bagan will be the fourth contender in the elite four. Unless East Bengal defeat Santos with a better goal difference than Mahindra United, which seems impossible, they are out along with Kolkata’s Mohammedan Sporting.
Hardly had the play begun, Bagan defender Rauf Khan passed the ball to medio Ishfaq Ahmed who produced a perfect centre for the Brazilian whose right footer found the target with Sporting custodian Nasim Akhtar left stranded.
Barreto doubled the lead for Bagan in the 11th minute when his header found the net despite hitting the post off a James Singh corner headed towards the Brazilian by Douglas da Silva. The formalities were completed after seven minutes as Barreto got his third goal after heading home James Singh’s freekick.
Sporting defenders, meanwhile, looked like a bunch of helpless amateurs throughout the match. Striker Mike Okoro appeared as the only footballer in the black-and-white brigade.
Earlier in the day, East Bengal’s dismal form continued as they were beaten 0-2 by Mahindra United.
Playing at Barasat, the traditional East Bengal bastion, the red-gold side showed flashes of brilliance early in the first half before they were bulldozed into defending by the Mumbai outfit.
In a time between the 20 and 30 minutes of the match Mahindra laid siege of East Bengal defence and forced five corners in a row.
The goal came seven minutes later as Yusuf Yakubu pulled the two stoppers Majek Bolaji and Anupam Sarkar with him to flick the ball to Mohammed Rafi. All Rafi had to do was beat the red-gold keeper which he did with elan.
The second goal came after horrendous defensive lapse. Edward Menza and Yakubu played a few passes between them before sending the ball to the left for Rafi. Rafi overlapped into the rival defence with Sur Kumar Singh nowhere in sight. Then he sent a measured centre that saw Yakubu volleying home into the upper right of the night (2-0). East Beenagl’s backbone was broken.
To make the matters worse Bolaji who was injured was first substituted with Meherajuddin Wadoo. But the player was all at sea as a stopper and in the second half Edmilson was replaced by M. Suresh to bolster the defence.
By then East Bengal as only planning to save further embarrassment and not score and win.
In another match in the Howrah Municipal Stadium, Dhaka Mohammedan Sporting and Churchill Brothers finished with a goalless draw. Both sides played safe and the dull match finished without a bang.