ATK Mohun Bagan kept their Derby winning streak intact, with Sunday’s victory being their sixth on the trot. At a packed Salt Lake Stadium, hosting a Derby after more than two-and-a-half years, the green and maroon defeated Emami East Bengal 1-0, thanks to Sumit Passi’s own goal at the stroke of half-time. The run started on January 19, 2020, in an I-League match, which then Mohun Bagan had won 2-1.

Group B of the Durand Cup now has ATK Mohun Bagan, Mumbai City and Rajasthan United on four points each. Mumbai and Rajasthan have played a match less and square off on Monday at the Kishore Bharati Stadium. East Bengal have two points and need to win their last match against Mumbai City to advance and also hope other results go in their favour. Indian Navy are the fifth team in the group.

The margin could have been bigger for Juan Ferrando’s side — East Bengal goalkeeper Kamaljit Singh denied Ashique Kuruniyan from a one-on-one situation, Florentin Pogba’s attempt was saved on the goal line by Charalambous Kyriacou and Hugo Boumous saw his attempt foiled by Kamaljit again. The East Bengal goalkeeper also timed his rush to perfection to thwart substitute Kiyan Nassiri at the fag end of the match.

ATK Mohun Bagan fans do the ‘Mexican Wave’ during the match. Around 62,000 spectators packed the Salt Lake Stadium to watch the season’s first Derby Santosh Ghosh

East Bengal were unlucky to concede the goal. Colaco floated in an innocuous corner and Brazilian Eliandro made a hash of a clearance. A blindsided Sumit Passi could not move his body out of line and the ball deflected into the net off the former India player. After the change of ends, East Bengal coach Stephen Constantine made three changes. Cleiton Silva, Aniket Yadav and Himangshu Jhangra brought in the much-needed bite in the attack.

Yadav’s powerful shot missed the target, while Passi could have done better with a free header off a Silva centre. In the first half, ATK Mohun Bagan showed more intent than their arch-rivals with repeated forays into the East Bengal defence.

Colaco and Kuruniyan were very lively on the flanks, while Ashish Rai troubled the East Bengal defence with his runs. But the lack of a striker was all the more glaring as time and again ATK Mohun Bagan were found wanting in front of the goal. Ferrando will look forward to Dimitrios Petratos’s arrival, but till then it will be a struggle. Constantine can take heart from his team’s performance. In the three matches so far, they have shown that given some time, East Bengal will be a tough nut to crack. “The defeat was disappointing but we created chances,” Constantine said later.

Ferrando was happy the team lived up to the fans’ expectations. “They came to see us win. East Bengal did create some uncomfortable moments for us but, in the end, the better team won,” he said. In Imphal, Trau FC defeated Army Red 2-1 in a Group C match.