A vintage ATK Mohun Bagan performance saw them beat a dogged NorthEast United side 2-0 on Sunday to reclaim top spot in the Indian Super League and start the year with a bang.
After Mumbai City won on Saturday, the pressure was on Bagan to keep pace with the Islanders and they showed that they were more than capable of doing that.
And their performance at the Fatorda Stadium had all the characteristics that one associates with an Antonio Habas side with their talisman Roy Krishna being the focal point and protagonist yet again. And once again, the Kolkata outfit managed to change the course of the game in the second half as they've been doing all season.
In their nine games so far, Bagan have managed to score just one goal in the first half, and against Gerard Nus' team, they struggled in the first 45 minutes but utterly dominated the second.
In the end, Krishna's sixth goal of the campaign in the 51st minute and an own goal from NorthEast captain Benjamin Lambot that had controversy written all over it helped Habas' team leapfrog Mumbai and lead the table by a solitary point.
The first half was a cagey battle where both sides essentially cancelled each other out.
It was clear that NorthEast had decided to sit deep and frustrate Bagan and they managed to do that. Bagan didn't trouble the NorthEast backline or their goalkeeper Gurmeet Singh.
All that changed in the second half as Habas' side increased their intensity and started dominating their opponents.
They got their reward when the Mariners took the lead from a corner. Edu Garcia whipped in a corner which was flicked into the path of Krishna at the far post by Tiri.
Krishna showed great awareness to beat his marker Khassa Kamara to the ball and headed it past Gurmeet.
They got a second from another set-piece in the 58th minute. Garcia once again swung in a dangerous ball into the six-yard box.
As Bagan centre-back Sandesh Jhingan and Lambot were going for the ball, it appeared like the Indian defender had pulled back the Belgian who inadvertently knocked the ball into his own net.
VP Suhair who was standing on the goal-line could not clear it as the ball trickled into the net to give Bagan a massive two-goal advantage.
That was all that ATK needed as they decided to shut shop and defend for the rest of the game.
The best chance for NorthEast fell to Federico Gallego when his free-kick rattled the crossbar in the 71st minute.
For the remainder of the game, it was a case of Bagan keeping the Highlanders at bay to secure their seventh clean-sheet of the campaign.
As for NorthEast, it was only their second defeat of their campaign but after a bright start to the season, they are slipping down the table and find themselves at sixth in the table.