Salgaocar rout East Bengal

Defending champions East Bengal got a hammering on Thursday. A brace each by medio Eugene Gray and striker Sunday Seah saw Salgaocar rout them 4-0 in a National Football League match at the Nehru stadium, in Margao, Goa.

Salgaocar, who dominated the match throughout, drew first blood in the ninth minute through Eugene Gray. The fomer champions from Goa, however, were unabled to added another goal in the first-half despite their allround superiority.

The early goal shattered the defending champions, who were weakened by absence of defenders Jackson, Anit Ghosh (yellow cards) and medio Dipankar Roy (injury). In fact, they were clueless as Salgaocar made inroads into their territory and scored three more goals in the second half through Sunday Seah (53rd, 78th) and Eugene Gray (74th) to complete te rout.

It was the worst defeat for East Bengal, who lost their third successive match. They had just one scoring chance in each half but Omolaja Olalekan and substitute Jiten Rai's efforts were saved by 'keeper Kalyan Chaubey.

With the win, Salgaocar swelled their tally to 15 points from nine matches, while East Bengal, who suffered their fourth defeat, remained on 10 points from as many matches.

Salgacoar could have won by a bigger margin had their strikers, particulary Sunday, not missed as many as four close chances. Once his try hit the post and defender Suley Musah made a goal line save.

Referee Suresh of Tamil Nadu showed the yellow card to Salgaocar's Sunday Seah and East Bengal's Isiaka Aowemy and Chandan Das.

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