Peerless scorer Kartick Kisku. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta: Mohammedan Sporting crashed to their fourth defeat in the Premier Division, losing by a solitary goal to Peerless on Thursday.

Shabbir Ali’s boys had lost to Peerless in the first leg too. Substitute Kartick Kisku scored the all important goal in the 52nd minute.

There was very little to show for Mohammedan Sporting. Their players were listless and failed to create any positive move. Only Basudeb Mondal tried to take some initiative, but it failed to yield anything with lack of support around.

Peerless, in comparison, were well-directed in their approach and strategy. They targeted the weak Mohammedan Sporting backline with forays down the middle and returned the deserving winners.

Mohammedan Sporting had banked on foreign recruits Ayeni Bidemi Daniel and Adewusi Adebayo but their performance wasn’t good enough to inspire hopes in the minds of their supporters.

They had a narrow escape when a Basudeb clearance was deflected off Seikh Azim, hit the nearby post and went wide.

Mohammedan Sporting’s best chance came midway in the first half when A. Jothi Kumar failed to find the target from an advantageous position following a Basudeb free-kick. The rest of their attempts at the goal were mainly restricted to shots from the distance and aimless runs in and around the box.

The goal was a result of Kartick’s brilliance. He got the ball near the rival midfield, dribbled past Azim and unleashed a volley from top of the box that left Nasim Akhtar stranded. This was the only bright spot in an otherwise drab encounter.

“This was our worst display in the season… Hopefully we can improve in the remaining matches,” Shabbir said later.

His counterpart Mihir Bose said: “We failed to get our act right in the first half. After the break, we excelled and got the goal… Mohammedan Sporting did not prove to be a tough opponent.”

No one was denying Bose’s words.

TEAMS

Peerless: Rakesh Prasad, Zoheb Hassan, Dibyendu Panja, Saheb Ali, Tarak Mahato (Kamal Bhuni, 88), Gouranga Biswas, Arup Singha, Sovan Das, Ugwu James Agbo, Babin Biswas, Debjit Bhowmick (Kartick Kisku, 52).

Mohammedan Sporting: Nasim Akhtar, Rajib Ahmed, Sk Azim, Ayeni Bidemi Daniel, Dipak Singh, Md Muneer KP, Adewusi Adibayo Tokunbo (Somy P.T., 85), Basudeb Mondal, A. Jyothi Kumar, K. Kulothungan, Shyju K (Md Zubair K.P., 53).

Referee: Debasish Mishra.