KOLKATA: Football returned to the Maidan in a big way as hundreds of supporters flocked to the Mohammedan Sporting ground to see their team demolish Calcutta FC 7-0 in their CFL Premier Division match on Wednesday.
Mohun Bagan SG also won big, rallying to wallop Tollygunge Agragami 5-1 at the Barrackpore stadium.
Both Mohun Bagan and East Bengal FC — who will launch their CFL campaign with a game against Rainbow AC at the Kishore Bharati Stadium on Thursday — are scheduled to play their matches at home later this month.
But it was a happy homecoming for Mohammedan Sporting who began their campaign on a perfect note with David Lalhlansanga and Beneston Barreto both scoring a hat-trick each.
David scored in the 16th and 39th minutes while Bikash Singh — who has joined Mehrajuddin Wadoo’s side on loan from Kerala Blasters — added another in the first-half extra time as the home team went into the break with a comfortable 3-0 lead.
The second half belonged to Barreto who completed his hat-trick in a span of 16 minutes, scoring in 62, 74 and 78 minutes. In between, David also got his treble, notching up the third goal in the 72nd minute.
At Barrackpore, Mohun Bagan got off to a shocker when Tollygunge went ahead through Manas Sarkar early on. Nongdamba Naorem, however, brought Mohun Bagan back in level terms in the first half. Lalrinliana Hnamte then stole the show in the second half, putting Bastab Roy’s team on the path to victory with a fine hat-trick.
Suhail Ahmad was the other scorer for Mohun Bagan, who had defeated Patha Chakra 3-1 in their campaign-opener last week.
WEDNESDAY'S RESULTS
