City giants East Bengal edged past Goan outfit Salgaocar 2-1 in an I-League encounter at the Barasat stadium, Kolkata on Sunday.
The win has propelled the red and gold brigade to the second spot on the points table with 17 points from eight games, while from the same number of outings, Salgaocar have only five points and are second from bottom in the table.
Mohammed Rafique (38th minute) broke the deadlock for East Bengal. But then, Darryl Duffy in the second half (65th minute) restored parity for the visitors. It was, however, Bello Rasaq who headed in the winner for East Bengal in the 83rd minute of the contest.
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Rafique was set up by midfielder Mehtab Hossain who played a delightful ball to the striker. The Indian forward then skipped past Brian Mascarenhas and guided the ball past a diving Karanjit Singh and into the back of the net.
At halftime, the hosts led 1-0.
After the restart, it was Salgaocar who tried hard for an equaliser and succeeded when Scottish striker Duffy scored with a header after getting at the end of a long ball from Augustin Fernandes.
Just when it looked like the game was heading for a stalemate, Nigerian defender Rasaq unmarked in the box headed home a Sanju Pradhan corner to give his side a one-goal advantage which East Bengal held onto till the final whistle.
