MEG, unbeaten thus far, now have 22 points from eight matches with seven wins and a draw. BEL have 11 points from eight games with three wins, two draws and three losses.
The men who made it MEG’s day were captain Suman Kumar, who scored early in the fourth minute, Nguernilal Hmar in the 41st minute and Lokeshwar Singh in the 49th minute.
Suman started the party when he latched onto a corner kick from Shiyad to head in for the opening goal. Lokeshwar then missed a golden opportunity to double the Sappers’ lead in the 24th minute when he missed a penalty awarded after BEL’s Shivakumar handled the ball inside the box.
It was 2-0 in the 41st minute. Suraj Singh, workmanlike in his performance, ran through the left before giving Lokeshwar a cross. The Manipuri smashed the ball hard but it rebounded after hitting the post but an alert Nguernilal tapped the ball in.
Two goals down, BEL were up against it in the second half but failed to lift themselves, In the 49th minute, Lokeshwar compounded their misery after he dodged past defenders Vikram and Shivakumar on the left before firing a shot past BEL custodian Vasudevan.
BEL had an opportunity in the 62nd minute but striker Nagaraj’s shot inside the box went straight into MEG custodian Amit Shaw’s hands. BEL made three substitutions with Dheeraj, Hangminlen Haolai and Dhanashekar coming in for Vikram, Thong Khohao and Harish Babu respectively, but the task proved just too much in the end as they caved in to a tame surrender.
Other results: ‘B’ Division: Jupiter: 4 (Sanath 20th, 39th, 41st, 44th) bt Universal: 0; Sree Gajanana: 4 (Salim 4th, 22nd, Sharma 11th, Sharath 44th) bt Bosch: 2 (Arun 29th, 41st).