I-League 2017: Dominant East Bengal sit atop after Willis Plaza brace seals easy win

Barasat: East Bengal consolidated their lead at the top of the table by beating Mumbai FC 2-0 in a sixth round match of the I-League in the Barasat Stadium on Wednesday.

Willis Plaza struck twice in the space of seven minutes as Trevor Morgan’s charges recorded their fifth win in as many games in style.

Mumbai looked unimpressive throughout the match as their rivals had little difficulty in extending their unbeaten record to six games.

The Kolkata giants now have 16 points from six outings while Mumbai plummeted to their fourth loss on the trot.

The Red-and-Gold brigade took just 10 minutes to take the lead. Willis Plaza atoned for his raft of misses in the previous home match with a goal after Rahul Bheke swept in a cross from the right.

Plaza brought down the ball with his chest and befuddled keeper Kunal Sawant and Chintarao Chandrashekhar to send the ball to the far post with his left foot.

It was a slick move that resulted in the goal as the hosts looked like a well-oiled machine from the word go.

It took seven more minutes for East Bengal to double their tally and Plaza was in the thick of things again.

The Trinidad and Tobago international controlled the ball well, taking Shallum Pires for a ride and hammering home another beautiful left footer.

The visitors were finding it hard to get the ball as East Bengal conjured a plethora of attacks.

Mumbai were guilty of wasting chances also with Farukh Chowdhary and then Pires getting into good areas in the attacking third but they could outfox their rival defenders.