Mahindra United drove another nail into the coffin of Mohammedan Sporting, thrashing the trouble-torn Kolkata outfit 5-1 in an eighth National Football League match in Kolkata on Wednesday.
Nigerian Felix Aboagye slammed a hat-trick while Raphael Patron Akapko struck once and rival defender Madhav Das netted an own goal to complete an impressive scoreline for the Mumbai outfit at the Salt Lake stadium.
Veteran Dipendu Biswas scored a consolation goal for the hosts, who further slid into the relegation zone with 15 points from 16 outings.
In contrast, the visitors rekindled their title hopes by increasing their tally to 27 points after the 16th round.
The thrashing before the home crowd rubbed salt into the wounds for the depleted local outfit, who saw their foreign recruits playing truant today due to non-payment of dues. The rest of the lot, who had boycotted practice two days back, were brought to the field only after repeated assurances of early clearance of their dues.
The jeepmen surged ahead as early as the seventh minute from a sudden move as Akapko headed home a Felix cross with great aplomb, taking full advantage of a sloppy rival defence.
Mahindra increased their first half lead to 2-0 in the 40th minute as Felix, following an S Venkatesh centre inside the rival box, scored his first goal through a header from close.
With the match slipping out of their hands, Sporting tried to make amends with a goal through Amandeep Singh from corner kick in the 59th minute.
Medio Bongo Singh set up the opportunity by keeping the ball in place for an advancing Biswas, who found the target with a neat header past Mahindra custodian Kalyan Chaubey.
The rest of the match was a story best forgotten by the Sporting fans as Mahindra scored thrice in a span of seven minutes to dampen whatever spirit the locals were left with.
Felix scored his second goal, the team's third, in the 69th minute from a pass by S Venkatesh and completed his hat-trick from Raphael's center from left in the 74th minute.
Sporting, who had remained undefeated in the last five matches, conceded their fifth goal from a blunder committed by Madhav Das, who scored an own goal while trying to clear a James Singh square pass in the 76th minute.
The Sporting players made abortive attempts in the initial stages and also bagged a corner in the second minute of the match.
Sporting responded with waves of attack after conceding the first goal. Syed Rahim Nabi, fed by veteran Dipendu Biswas, got a look in at the rival goal in the 13th minute. A minute later, Sheikh Sanjib's powerful shot was saved by Chaubey.
Sporting could have conceded another goal in the 10th minute as the rearguards thought Felix was off-side and allowed him inside the box virtually unchallenged. Goalkeeper Amar Deb saved the debacle by coming out of the box to thwart the move.
