Matti Steinmann’s first-half strike proved to be the difference as SC East Bengal edged past Bengaluru FC (BFC) 1-0 to record their second win of ISL VII, at the Nehru Stadium in Fatorda on Saturday.

The Calcutta side is now unbeaten in their last five games while BFC’s misery continued with their fourth consecutive defeat. SC East Bengal had just one change with Jacques Maghoma replacing Aaron Amadi-Holloway. Skipper Daniel Fox made the line-up after his red card against FC Goa was earlier overturned.

BFC had early chances in the game but struggled to get the goals. First, it was Sunil Chhetri, whose lob over the rival defence was easily dealt with by Debjit Majumder. Cleiton Silva soon had a chance to put his side ahead in the 15th minute but failed.

Steinmann put SC East Bengal in the lead in the 20th minute with a fine outside-foot finish. Ankit Mukherjee’s cross was not dealt with cleanly by Ajith and Juanan and it found Narayan Das on the left. Narayan then played a low cross to Steinmann in the middle, and he scored his third of the season.

Clearly the better side in the second half, Bengaluru continued with their dominance but a goal eluded them.