East Bengal trounce Vasco

Title aspirants East Bengal capitalised on home advantage to trounce Vasco 3-0 and consolidate their position atop the points table in the fifth National Football League, in Calcutta, on Tuesday.

Displaying an aggressive brand of soccer, East Bengal struck once in the opening session through medio Dipankar Roy before striker Omalaja Olaleken and defender Suleh Mussah could find the target after the breather in a fast-paced encounter.

The local giants took some time to find their rhythm, as their opponents, who suffered their first defeat in the tournament, relied on a defensive game to counter the strong forwardline, and could have won by a bigger margin had their forwards not frittered away a few scoring opportunities.

With the convincing victory, East Bengal maintained their position at the top of the points table, having secured 19 points from eight outings so far while Vasco have collected 13 points from as many matches.

Spurred on by a vociferous home crowd, the local outfit shot into the lead five minutes before the interval, when the hard-working Dipankar Roy slammed home from inside the box following a pass by Bijen Singh from the left flank.

Leading by a solitary goal at the interval, East Bengal stepped up the pace of the game and managed to pump in two more goals as the Vasco midfielders failed to check the onslaught.

5th National Football League
How the teams stand
Teams		P	W	D	L	F	A		Pts	GD
East Bengal		8	6	1	1	13	3		19	10
Salgaocar		7	5	0	2	12	7		15	5
FC Kochin		7	4	3	0	12	8		15	3
M Bagan		7	4	2	1	11	6		14	5
Vasco		8	3	4	1	6	6		13	0
Churchill		7	2	2	3	8	6		8	2
Mahindra		7	1	4	2	5	6		7	-1
Tollygunge		7	1	3	3	2	6		6	-4
ITI		7	1	2	4	2	5		5	-3
Air-India		7	1	2	4	4	9		5	-5
SBT		7	0	4	3	5	11		4	-6
JCT		7	0	3	4	4	11		3	-7

Related reports:

FC Kochin lead National Football League race
F C Kochin stay ahead
Salgaocar close in on early leaders
Mohun Bagan well-placed after five rounds
Air India, Mahindra in a spot - Summary of Round 6
East Bengal high in the saddle - Summary of Round 7