Barreto 'tricks' for Bagan; East Bengal held

Riding on the brilliance of Jose Ramirez Barreto, defending champions Mohun Bagan routed JCT, Phagwara, 3-1, while East Bengal suffered a jolt after drawing 1-1 with a spirited Punjab Police in their opening Group "A" and Group "B" quarter-final league ties respectively in the Durand Cup football tournament, in Delhi on Friday.

While East Bengal, desperate to regain their winning touch after an unimpressive showing in the National Football League, put up yet another lacklusture display, Mohun Bagan, a front ranker in the NFL, won comfortably despite falling into arrears early on.

Bagan will meet another NFL leader, Indian Telephone Industries, in their next match, which will decide the semi-final slots from Group 'A'.

ITI have one point from their drawn match against JCT in the three-team group.

East Bengal play Salgaocar in their next match and the Goan side, which beat them 4-0 in the NFL, need only a draw from that match to make it to the semis, as they had beaten Punjab Police 1-0 in their first match.

It was JCT who went ahead through Hardip Gill, who scored from a through pass by Hardip Sangha. The lead lifted the spirits of the Phagwara team and they unleashed a barrage of moves with long passes. Sangha and Gill created some good chances but none could be converted.

But the Kolkota side gradually clawed back into the match. They restored parity a minute from half-time, when, from a counter attack, Barreto socred from a cross by R P Singh.

After the break, Bagan came back strongly. They did not have to wait for long for the lead. In the 48th minute, the Brazillian ace scored his second goal and then completed his hat-trick in the 63rd minute following a flag-kick.

In the East Bengal - Punjab Police match, the Kolkata side drew first blood from a penalty kick, which was awarded after their striker Carlos was roughly tackled by Rajesh Kumar in the box. Suleh Musah no made mistake from the spot.

Nine minutes later, Punjab Police got a free-kick. Gurpreet Singh shot into the wall created by the defenders and off the rebound, Praveen Kumar relayed it to Gurvinderpal Singh, who drove home.

114th Durand Cup 2002 - the complete coverage
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