It was a busy few days of Hero I-League action this past week with all 10 teams playing twice as Mohun Bagan ended the fourth round of matches at the summit of the table. The Mariners registered a comfortable 4-0 victory over Minerva Punjab at the Rabindra Sarobar Stadium in midweek with braces from former FC Goa forward Darryl Duffy and Chennaiyin FC’s attacking talisman Jeje Lalpekhlua.They then came from behind to edge past Chennai City 2-1 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai on Saturday, keeping their perfect record this season intact with four wins from four. Marcos Thank opened the scoring for Chennai seven minutes into the second half before Jeje and Sony Norde of Mumbai City FC struck once each for one of the title favourites to secure the win.Arch-rivals East Bengal are in second spot and trail the league leaders by two points with back-to-back victories this week. Their first match of the week saw them take on Churchill Brothers at the Tilak Maidan Stadium, Vasco da Gama in Goa. Kerala Blasters FC’s Thongkhosiem Haokip opened the scoring in the 31st minute before Atlético de Kolkata’s Lalrindika Ralte scored in first-half stoppage-time for an easy 2-0 win.Their second match of the week against Bengaluru FC at the Barasat District Sports Stadium in Kolkata on Sunday saw them mount a spirited comeback to hand the reigning I-League champions their first loss of the season. CK Vineeth (Kerala Blasters FC) opened the scoring in the 23rd minute only for Ivan Bukenya to net the equaliser for the Red and Gold Brigade five minutes later. FC Goa forward Robin Singh came off the bench to make it 2-1 for East Bengal 11 minutes from full-time and claim maximum points. The loss to East Bengal made it a disappointing end to the week for Bengaluru, who had beaten Mumbai FC 3-0 at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium courtesy of a CK Vineeth hat-trick on Wednesday.The surprise package of the season so far Aizawl FC also kept pace at the top of the table with wins in their fixtures against Shillong Lajong in the North-eastern derby and Mumbai FC. They beat Shillong Lajong 2-1 with goals in either half. Lalruatthara scored in the first half and Chennaiyin FC’s Jayesh Rane scored three minutes after the hour mark to make it 2-0. Yuta Kinowaki scored a consolation goal for Shillong five minutes from full-time as the game ended 2-1.A Mahmoud Al Amna goal proved to be the difference in their second win of the week against Mumbai FC at the Cooperage Football Ground in Mumbai. The win put them in third sport on the table with 10 points, a point ahead of Bengaluru. Meanwhile, Shillong Lajong bounced back from their loss against Aizawl earlier in the week to beat Minerva Punjab 2-1. Delhi Dynamos FC’s Rupert Nongrum opened the scoring for Shillong in the 17th minute before Asier Dipanda doubled the lead three minutes from half-time. An injury time consolation goal by Loveday Enyinnaya for Minerva Punjab made the score-line 2-1.It was also a very good week for DSK Shivajians who opened their account for the season and climbed to sixth spot in the table on the back of a win and a draw. Seong-Yong Kim scored the first goal for DSK against Chennai City on the half hour mark before skipper Juan Barraso converted a spot-kick ten minutes after the restart for an easy 2-0 win for the hosts at the Balewadi Stadium on Tuesday. The Pune-based outfit then drew 1-1 with Churchill Brothers at home on Saturday. Seong-Yong Kim scored DSK’s only goal in the 22nd minute, while Adil Khan netted a late equaliser as the match ended 1-1.
