Mohun Bagan beat Peerless 2-0 to emerge champions in the Kolkata premier division football league on Wednesday.
Bagan shot into the lead in the opening half through P Lalam Puiya, before skipper Baichung Bhutia got the insurance goal in the second session of a one-sided encounter on home ground.
In the 28th minute, Habibur Rahman Mandal sent in a low cross from the deep, which an unmarked Lalam Puiya received on the top box and put the ball into the net.
The scoreline became 2-0 in the 66th minute, when Sanjiv Maria's lob was received by Bhutia with his head. As the ball started rolling towards the goal, Bhutia put all doubts to rest by tapping home.
With today's victory, Bagan swelled their tally to 33 points from 13 outings. With one match still in hand, the green and maroon brigade is beyond the reach of closest rivals East Bengal, who have 25 points from 12 outings.
Eight teams are participating in the league, which is being played on the double-league format.
Bagan officials, players and supporters, who were in celebratory mode even before the start of the match, hugged and smeared each other with green and maroon coloured powder amidst bursting of firecrackers.