East Bengal pump six goals against Md Sporting

Kolkata, Aug 7 (UNI) East Bengal continued their winning streak in style swamping a hapless Mohammedan Sporting 6-2 in a Sahara Kolkata Football League encounter at the Salt Lake stadium here today.

Playing the first derby of the season, Sporting went into the lead after veteran Basudeb Mondal scored from a free-kick in the very second minute of the match.

Rookie East Bengal custodian Arup Debnath had no answer to Basudeb's sublime skills as the ball curled into the net.

But two minutes later, East Bengal came right back into the match after skipper Alvito D'Cunha tore apart the Sporting defence with a brilliant solo run that was capped with a blockbuster only to see goalkeeper Nasibul Haque's save land at Asim Biswas's feet. Biswas unselfishly set up Edmilson Marques Pardal, who found the net with one of the easiest of tap-ins (1-1).

But, Sporting were to give a fight to their much fancied rivals and they deservedly went into the lead in the 19th minute, after M Shyju struck a brilliant second goal volleying home on a half turn from the top of the box of a freekick from near the corner position.

Against the run of play, the red-and-gold brigade eqalised in the 42nd minute. Edmilson latched on to a long pass from Jayanta Sen and got past two Sporting defenders before chipping the ball over the extended hands of Nasibul. His finish was of world class and the rot had set in.

One minute after the change of ends, Ashim scored East Bengal's third. Alvito was the creator again this time as he wriggled through a maze of Sporting defenders to essay an accurate pass for Ashim to convert. Two minutes later, the margin was increased. Edmilson completely flummoxed his marker Sheikh Azim with a brilliant dummy at the middle-third and then burst into space before unleashing an inch perfect pass for an onrushing Ashim, who slotted the ball home.

Sporting came close to scoring in the 54th minute, but substitute K P Zubair's powerful volley was kept acrobatically by Arup. Skipper Alvito netted East Bengal's fifth in the 55th minute, after a brilliant individual run. Six minutes later the East Bengal skipper could have added one more, but Nasibul was up for the challenge and he came out and narrowed the angle. Alvito's effort went wide.

Edmilson completed his hat-trick in the 70th minute, slotting the ball home after Ashim had done the spade work and found him in right corner of the net.

Despite the win, East Bengal coach and veteran defender Subrata Bhattacharya will be worried with the look of his defence. Gurpreet Singh playing at the heart of the defence looked far from convincing and East Bengal also missed the services of a quality blocker in the midfield. Any other team with a bit of pace in their ranks can give the Kolkata giants a run for their money.

UNI