East Bengal: A cut above the rest

The Salgaocar-Churchill match saw the formers’ custodian Kalyan Choubey — back to club duty after a stint of professional football in Germany — and Churchill’s Ghanian striker Yusif Yakubu engage themselves in a on-field argument. Yakubu assaulted Choubey in the Salgaocar dressing room. His act left the Salgaocar management fuming amidst rumours of “pulling out” from the rest of the matches. However, the AIFF stepped in to hand Yakubu a one-match suspention.

Vasco, third till last week, utilised Salgaocar’s slip-up and post wins over Indian Bank (4-1) in an ‘away’ encounter and then avenged Dempo’s first-leg loss with a 2-0 verdict. Swelling their tally by six, Vasco now occupy second place. Incidentally, Dempo are yet to win a match in the second-leg.

Defending champions Mohun Bagan handed Churchill a 3-0 spanking at home to occupy fourth place behind Vasco and Salgaocar, respectively.

For Mumbai heavyweights Mahindra United, it was the ‘best week’ in months. Two wins, first against Dempo (2-0) at ‘home’ and then a huge 5-0 win over destined-to-relegation ITI helped them gain some confidence. ITI’s nightmare-run continued as the winless team continue to occupy the last place.