Dempo beat East Bengal, jump to I-league top spot

The all important second-half goal which steered the Goan side to the top spot of the league table was smartly netted by medio Peter Carvalo in the 47th minute.
With Dempo's Climax Lawrence sitting out because of card problem, East Bengal went into attack right from the beginning and came near scoring early but strikers Nabi and Hammond shot straight to the rival keeper.

Dempo custodian Abhijit Mondal also saved a powerful free kick taken by Yakubu in the seventh minute and then Nabi missed another chance to forge ahead.
With medio Mehrajuddin keeping a strict vigil, the East Bengal defence also put up a good fight and never faltered except conceding the goal in the early second half.
Despite being dominated by the red and yellow brigade, Dempo took the lead against the run of play in second minute after the lemon break.Following a corner taken by Anthony Pereira, Peter Carvalo trailed the ball nicely and shot home through the melee (1-0).

East Bengal's Belgian coach Philip De Rider replaced striker Hammond after the break. Though Rider made a number of changes in the second half, the home team failed to find chinks in the defence of the Goan side.

After conceding the goal, East Bengal made some sporadic attempts to restore parity but failed to make any breakthrough as the Dempo keeper acted as chinese wall.

Mondal was rightly chosen the 'Man of the Match' later.Dempo now lead the table with 38 points after 20 outings followed by Mahindra United who have so far collected 37 points from 20 matches.

With this loss, East Bengal conceded their sixth defeat out of the last eight matches they played, having shared points in the two others.