East Bengal beat Mohun Bagan 2-0

Kolkata: Robin Singh`s double strike helped East Bengal beat arch rivals Mohun Bagan 2-0 in the Sahara Kolkata Football league encounter played at the flood-lit Yuba Bharati Krirangan.

With nearly one lakh spectators watching the derby clash, striker Singh scored both the goals one in each half. With this triumph, East Bengal completed the hattrick of winning three titles this season - Federation Cup, Mohammedan Sporting Platinum Jubilee Cup and now IFA premier division football league -- outplaying their traditional rivals in all three finals. East Bengal, who bagged this title last in 2006, thus won this league championship for 33 times against 29 times by Mohun Bagan. With one more match to go, East Bengal now lead the league table with 43 points from 15 matches and are followed by Mohun Bagan who stayed put at 37 points after playing the equal number of games. Even if East Bengal lose their last outing against Aryan, they would remain at least three points ahead of Mohun Bagan, their nearest rivals in this league. It was the green and maroon brigade who started the must win match in a whirlwind fashion and came near scoring as early as in the second minute. But, A Jose Barreto`s header was smartly held by young East Bengal keeper Jayanta Pal, who brought a number of good saves throughout the match.Bagan made a series of attacks till eleventh minute, all of which proved abortive. The red and yellow outfit forged ahead in the 11th minute of the match totally against the run of play following a counter attack for which the Bagan keeper was responsible. After East Bengal striker Tolgey sent an easy floater from near the centre line, Bagan custodian Shilton Paul tried to grab the ball which was going out. But the ball got slipped between his palms and Robin Singh who was lurking inside the Bagan box jumped up a little and tapped the ball home to make it 1-0.Stung by the early reverse, Bagan went all out for a equaliser but their strikers failed to score. The second half saw East Bengal scoring again through a gem of a move in the 60th minute to ensure their title triumph. Following a midfield through by Penn Orji, Tolgay sent a defence splitting centre while on the run. Robin who was following the move and was also on the run smartly headed home to buttress their lead further (2-0). After scoring the second goal, East Bengal dominated the proceedings all through and came near scoring a number of times but their strikers could not cash in on those chances. East Bengal striker Penn Orji was chosen "man of the match." PTI