Martins, Beto sparkle as Dempo drub sloppy Bagan

The win meant Dempo, who now have 47 points from 23 matches, are tantalisingly close to their fourth title in the national championship.

In two contrasting performances, Mohun Bagan dominated the first-half with an NS Manju strike early in the seventh minute as the leaders looked out of sorts, both in the mid-field and forward.

But the Goans turned the table in scintillating fashion after the breather and pumped in four goals in the space of 20 minutes to shatter Mohun Bagan’s hopes.

Man-of-the-Match Beto scored two goals (47th, 64th), while Ranti Martins (54th) and Joacquim Abranches (60th) found the net once to complete the humiliation for the home team.

India international Manju helped Mohun Bagan go 1-0 up in splendid fashion when he scored from a Marcos Pereira corner early on.

Dempo almost equalised through Anthony Pereira in the 25th minute when Mohun Bagan goalkeeper Shilton Paul found himself out of place but a well anticipated Deepak got himself in the  line of the ball to avert the goal.

But after the change of ends, the Armando Colaco-coached side looked regrouped with Brazilian striker Beto bringing them back into the match with the equaliser in the 47th minute.

An unmarked Beto headed the ball home from a Samir Naik corner to level the scoreline. Martins made a brilliant finish from an Abranches pass with a superb right-footer. Six minutes later, Abranches scored from a Climax La-wrence corner to make it 3-1 for Dempo.

Beto added salt to Bagan’s injury, scoring his second and Dempo’s fourth of the match in the 64th minute. Arataizumi’s second half goal put paid to Mahindra United’s title hopes as Pune FC secured a 1-1 draw against the home team at the Cooperage Ground.
Arata’s goal in the 58th minute restored parity for the visitors after Steven Dias had scored for Mahindra in the 39th minute.

In another match, Shillong Lajong and Chirag United played out a 1-1 draw.
Daniel Bedemi opended the scoring for Lajong only for Chitag United to equalise through Edmilson Marques seven minutes from time.