Hat-trick up Edu's sleeve

KOLKATA, Novenber 30: "When was the last time JCT had such a fantastic start?" A scribe with a statistical bent asked Sukhwinder Singh at the post-match conference. After a brief pause the JCT coach said: "We never had such a start. Not even in 1997."
Sukhwinder could not have been so spot-on. For, the Punjab outfit became the first team in India to take home six points beating Mohun Bagan and East Bengal respectively in successive matches.And one Eduardo Escobar recorded I-League's first hat-trick, taking his tally to five goals from two matches as the visitors swamped East Bengal 3-1 on Friday.
Eduardo's country cousin Edmilson scored the consolation goal for the hosts off the penalty spot.
Eduardo, on Thursday, was simply superb. He showed quicksilver opportunism in the first two goals, and for the third, simply, we should consider ourselves lucky we were witness to it. For the first two he was ably aided by a flat-footed and an indecisive East Bengal defence and in the third, he made complete mockery of his marker Madhab Das. Such was Eduardo's effect on Friday, that normally biased East Bengal fans gave him a standing ovation after the game. At the aisles some touched his feet, some hugged him.