It was another busy week in the Hero I-League as Hero Indian Super League’s biggest stars continued hogging the limelight. It was a good week for both Kolkata clubs with East Bengal registering a 4-0 win against Shillong Lajong FC courtesy of a Ranti Martins hat-trick and a strike from Bikash Jairu of FC Pune City. Defending champions Mohun Bagan moved within one point of league leaders Bengaluru FC after back-to-back difficult away fixtures that saw them visit Mumbai FC and Bengaluru FC.The Mariners played out a 0-0 draw against Mumbai FC before beating Bengaluru FC 2-0 at the Kanteerava Stadium on Saturday with goals from Jeje Lalpekhlua (Chennaiyin FC) and Sony Norde (Mumbai City FC) after Bengaluru were reduced to 10 men near the hour mark with Lalchhuanmawia Fanai (Mumbai City FC) being given his marching orders.In their first match of the week on Wednesday, Bengaluru FC registered an impressive 4-1 win against DSK Shivajians. The match saw Sunil Chettri (Mumbai City FC) break the deadlock before strikes from KS Yong, S Sampingiraj and Seiminlen Doungel of Delhi Dynamos FC sealed all three points.Meanwhile, Sporting Clube de Goa and Salgaocar FC shared the spoils in the Goan derby on Thursday in a 1-1 draw that saw Darryl Duffy’s (FC Goa) opener being cancelled out by Marcus Masceranhus. In their second match of the week on Sunday, Salgaocar FC beat DSK Shivajians in Pune thanks to a brace from their top-scorer Darryl Duffy and a goal from Thongkhosiem Haokip (FC Goa). Like their Goan counterparts Salgaocar, Sporting Clube de Goa too featured in a 3-2 thriller on Sunday in which they came from behind to win the match after a Sushil Kumar Singh (Atlético de Kolkata) brace had put Mumbai FC 2-1 up.Bengaluru FC now have 15 points from eight games and a one-point advantage over Kolkata clubs Mohun Bagan and East Bengal. Mohun Bagan and East Bengal though have played fewer matches. DSK Shivajians prop up the nine-team league with Aizawl FC, who played out a 0-0 draw against Shillong Lajong on Saturday, and Salgaocar FC taking the seventh and eighth spots respectively.
