I-League: East Bengal beat Churchill Brothers; Vineeth hat-trick powers BFC to 3-0 win over Mumbai FC

Vasco/Bengaluru: East Bengal and Bengaluru FC produced perfect performances in their respective third round matches of the Hero I-League on Wednesday.

In the early kick-off, East Bengal scored twice in the first half to notch up a convincing 2-0 win over Churchill Brothers at Tilak Stadium in Vasco.

East Bengal, who held more of the ball possession, scored through Thongkhosiem Haokip (31st minute) and Lalrindika Ralte (45+1).

Churchill Brothers midfield once again lacked the creativity to trouble the rival defence. Assistant coach Alfred Fernandes expected a lot from striker Anthony Wolfe but he could not do much except for a couple of shots which lacked direction.

Once he nicely put Agnelo Colaco with a through pass in the second half but his shot hit the post. Both the teams took time to settle down. There was plenty of miss passes initially as both the teams failed to penetrate into each other's citadel as play was confined in the midfield.

East Bengal who slowly settled down and as the match wore on looked more threatening as they attacked more from the right with Poojary sending dangerous crosses which rival defender Adil Khan dealt well.

East Bengal had the first real chance in the 16th minute when Mehtab Hussain who moved on the top laid a pass to Trinidad and Tobago striker inside the box but he miscued his shot which went abegging.

East Bengal finally opened the account in the 31st minute. Pooary, who moved to the top from the right, send a cross which was intercepted by defender Adil Khan, the ball came back to Poojaray who again floated the ball into the box for Thongkhosiem Haokip who headed into the net.

Lalrindika Ralte, who troubled the rival defence, then increased the lead in the stoppage time of the first half when his curling shot from a corner found the net.

Churchill Brothers, who lost both their matches, made three changes from their last match against Mumbai FC but could not trouble the rival defence except for a 30-yard shot from Brandon Fernandes which rival keeper T P Rehenesh tipped over.

The change of ends saw East Bengal doing most of the probing and they had two clear chances to swell the lead but first Wedson Anselme who saw the keeper come out of his charge tried to lob the ball but his shot went out from close and latter Ivan Bukenya headed wide off the mark of a well-directed corner by Mehtab Hossain.

In Bengaluru, Star striker C K Vineeth's hat-trick helped defending champions Bengaluru FC trounce Mumbai FC 3-0 at Sree Kanteerava stadium later in the day.

With this win, Bengaluru are now perched at the top of the points table with nine points from three matches.

Vineeth struck in the 45th, 57th and 65th minutes in a match dominated by the home side for most part. The Kerala striker smashed home his first goal as he found himself unmarked after Cameron Watson crossed the ball straight to him.

For his second goal, Vineeth calmly slotted the ball home from point blank range after Harmanjot Singh Khabra played a beautiful cross. It was actually Udanta Singh who created the chance by first giving a pass to Khabra.

Before Sandesh Jhingan came in for Khabra, the full right back once again came into the act. Vineeth, for the third time, got a beautiful through ball from Khabra and he took a lovely first touch to calmly place the ball to the left of the keeper, leaving him no chance.

Vineeth missed his fourth goal of the match after his shot came off a Mumbai defender after Nishu Kumar played a good cross in 79th minute.

As usual, Bengaluru began their match giving stress on ball possession and made several forays into the rival citadel, but to no avail as Mumbai were equally good at dealing with the regular onslaughts.

Bengaluru had a golden opportunity to go one up in the 27th minute as Vineeth took a shy with his left first time but it flew over after Sunil Chhetri delicately slided one in for him.

Half an hour into the match, Mumbai looked much better with plenty of time on the ball. In contrast, Bengaluru went into a shell and needed to shift gears and attack more. The ball seems to be moving around only in the Bengaluru half.

In 36th minute, Hanghal volleyed one at the side of the Bengaluru net and in 38th, Shallum Pires played a dangerous low cross but a home side defender cleared the ball.

In the 43rd minute, Rodrigues sent a long ball out onto the right flank, where Khabra headed the ball down to Udanta who tried to cross from a good position, but the ball came off the defender giving a corner to the home team.

Mumbai must be disappointed to have conceded right at the dying moments of the first half, though they played pretty well.

The Bengaluru defence looked absolutely solid in the past two games and did the same today.