CFL: Five in a row again for East Bengal as they secure record 36th title

Ranti’s goal turned out to be the winner

East Bengal edged past Tollygunge Agragami 2-1 on Tuesday at the Salt Lake Stadium to clinch their record 36th Calcutta Football League title. The red-and-gold brigade have now won the local league for the fifth straight edition. This is the second time they have achieved that feat as they won it six times in a row between 1970 and 1975.

Armando Colaco’s side went in front through young Prohlad Roy but Nigerian defender Bello Rassaq equalised for Tollygunge. It didn’t take long though for East Bengal to regain their lead as Ranti Martins got on the scoresheet and they held on to that slender advantage to ensure that arch-rivals Mohun Bagan remain trophyless since May 2010.

Coming into this game both East Bengal and Tollygunge needed a win to be crowned champions while a draw would have handed the title to Mohun Bagan, who had finished their campaign with a 3-1 win over Southern Samity on Monday.

The game started slowly with Tollygunge Agragami well organised at the back by technical director Subroto Bhattacharya. They limited East Bengal to very few chances with only Dudu Omagbemi going close.

The opening game goal came in the 28th minute when Abhinash Ruidas’ cross wasn’t properly cleared by Tollygunge, allowing Prohlad to latch on to the loose ball and find the back of the net.

East Bengal’s lead only lasted for five minutes though as Goutam Thakur’s corner headed home by Bello Rassaq, who was left unmarked.

That goal silenced the crowd of 50,000 but they soon found their voice when Ranti capitalised on a couple of defensive errors from the Tollygunge backline to make it 2-1. Tollygunge centre-backs Babu Mondal and Bello inadvertently combined to set up Ranti, who headed past Tollygunge custodian Raju Ganguly.

East Bengal could have sealed the points before the interval when Dudu flicked on for Ranti but his shot went over the bar.

At the other end, East Bengal keeper Abhra Mondal lost the flight of Mohan Sarkar’s cross but no Tollygunge forward was present to capitalise.

Atletico de Kolkata co-owner Sourav Ganguly provided the half-time entertainment by participating in a penalty shootout with Alvito D’Cunha but the second half lacked excitement as East Bengal never really ran away with the game while Tollygunge created very few chances.

The first big chance of the second period fell to Dudu after some fine work by Ranti but the former Salgaocar player blasted his effort over the bar.

It was only after introduction of Koko Sakibo in place of Daniel Bidemi that Tollygunge threatened to score. Sakibo had two half headed chances from crosses and one golden opportunity from Saikat Saha Roy’s delivery but he failed to beat Abhra on all three occasions.

Final table (Top three only)

Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA	GD	Points
East Bengal	10	8	1	1	27	8	+19	25
Mohun Bagan	10	8	0	2	19	9	+10	24
Tollygunge Agragami	10	7	1	2	24	7	+17	22