Rooney stars as Bengaluru FC down Dempo

Two goals by Sean Rooney after an early strike from Siam Hangal lifted Bengaluru FC to a 3-1 win over former champions Dempo Sports Club, Goa, as the hosts recorded their fourth consecutive win in five matches of the I-League here Wednesday.

Debutants BFC, unbeaten after opening their campaign with a 1-1 draw with Mohun Bagan, took their tally to 13 points while Dempo remained on six from in as many outings with just one win to show for their efforts.

BFC could have won by a bigger margin had they not missed a couple of other chances as Dempo salvaged some pride by scoring a consolation goal in the 63rd minute by Clifford Miranda, but by then, far too much damage had been done after Hangal (6th) and Rooney (11th, 61st) had effectively sealed the match for the hosts.

Rooney was a live wire in the BFC frontline as he hustled and harried the Dempo defence that appeared a step slow in averting threat that was omnipresent as the home team kept up a sustained tempo to keep their rivals under constant pressure.

Such was BFC's dominance that coach Ashley Westwood had the luxury of substituting both Rooney and Hangal, adjudged Man of the Match, at the tail-end of the game while the Goan outfit slid to their second big defeat in six outings.

Dempo, who had come here riding high on confidence following their win over East Bengal in the previous game, proved to be a huge let-down as neither was their attacks sharp enough to trouble BFC nor was the defence agile and alert to repel the home team's advances.

Overall, BFC appeared better organised and looked a team that is fast settling down into a potent force in contrast to Dempo whose strikers, notably Brazilian Beto and Englishman Billy Mehmet are still struggling to play to their potential. As was to be expected, both were heavily policed by BFC who did well to blunt the Dempo attacks.

BFC, thus, completed their first sequence of home matches and will now hit the road for three away games in Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune before returning to host Sporting Goa in the next four weeks while Dempo have four home games on the trot.