Mohun Bagan held firm on an early penalty strike by Brazilian Beto in the face of relentless assault by Sporting Clube De Goa to come away with a 1-0 win in a ninth National Football League match at Kolkata on Tuesday.
The visitors were distinctly unlucky not to have left the Salt Lake stadium on a happier note as they failed to translate their overall supremacy into goals and even muffed up a penalty mid-way into the second half.
Bagan, who scored the all-important goal in the seventh minute, defended dourly for most part of the match to register their maiden triumph in the league and take their tally to four points from three outings.
The city giants obtained the spot kick after an advancing Jerry Zirsanga, who had cut into the rival box from the right outwitting a couple of Sporting defenders, was brought down by Philips Gomes. Beto made no mistake from the spot giving no chance to custodian Barreto Louis.
Sporting pressed hard but found it difficult to get past the solid Bagan defence marshalled by man of the match Eduwardo and Noel Wilson, with the latter having dropped down from midfield to fill the vacuum left by Merhajuddin, who sat out with two yellow cards.
Sporting's beat chance came in the 69th minute when they got a penalty as referee P Bhaskar pulled up Bagan substitute Palash Karmakar for tripping Chidi Edeh.
But as Dudu Omagbemi's spot kick gained height, Bagan custodian Prashanta Dora dived to his right and fisted the ball out for a corner.
The visitors remain on four points from three games.
