Calcutta Football League: Peerless continues to top league standings

Peerless defeated Bhowanipur 2-0 to extend its lead on the points table, moving closer to claiming its first crown of the Calcutta Football League.

Published : Sep 19, 2019 20:24 IST

Peerless is dominating the Calcutta Football League standings. (FILE IMAGE)

Peerless SC moved another step closer to claiming its first crown of the Calcutta Football League’s premier division ‘A’ after downing Bhowanipur FC 2-0 in its eighth outing of the league at Vidyasagar Stadium, Barasat on Thursday. The win took Peerless to 17 points from eight matches, giving it a clear point’s lead ahead of its closest challenger Mohammedan Sporting, which beat defending champion Mohun Bagan 3-2 in another match at Salt Lake Stadium.

Mohammedan Sporting tallied 16 points but has played a match more than Peerless. Having beaten both Mohun Bagan and East Bengal earlier, Peerless’ final big challenge will against Mohammedan Sporting, which it is scheduled meet in its next outing. With barely two rounds to go for most of the teams in the top half of the standings, the chances of any other team nudging Peerless out of the title race is dwindling.

East Bengal, which currently lies fourth with 14 points from eight matches, remains the only side with a realistic chance of cancelling Peerless’ hopes. But for that to happen, Peerless needs to perform miserably in its remaining three matches. Peerless took command of the action early and established the lead in the 14th minute when its Ghanaian attacker Edmond Peprah found the net from a free-kick.

Looking to make it to the top of the standings, the second placed Bhowanipur too had its share of chances but the Peerless goalkeeper James Kithan made a few saves in the second half to preserve his team’s lead. Jiten Murmu scored the insurance goal in the 58th minute to secure the full points for Peerless.  

The result:

Peerless SC 2 (Edmond Peprah 14, Jiten Murmu 58) bt Bhowanipur Club 0 at Vidyasagar Stadium, Barasat

Mohammedan Sporting 3 (Kareem Omolaja 7, Tirthankar Sarkar 10, John Chidi 61) bt Mohun Bagan 2 (Joseba Beitia 24, Salva Chamorro 70) at Salt Lake Stadium.