EASTERN put one hand on the Hongkong First Division championship trophy by beating nearest rivals Michelotti 2-1 at Mongkok Stadium last night.
After dropping their first points of the season in the 1-1 draw with defending champions South China last Sunday, the runaway leaders made no mistake against second-placed Michelotti.
Eastern's 10th win in 11 league games took them on to 31 points, nine ahead of Michelotti, who have played a game more. Third-placed Instant-Dict have 18 points from 10 games, meaning the race is virtually over with just under half the season remaining.
The three points were in the bag six minutes into the second half when Dale Tempest notched his 15th goal of the season to make it 2-0 to Eastern, following Ross Greer's seventh goal of the campaign in the 10th minute. The match was two minutes into injury time when Michelotti pulled a goal back from Lee Wai-wo, who became only the third player to score past Eastern goalkeeper Iain Hesford in 15 league and cup games this season.
Tempest showed his obvious delight at scoring because it was his first goal in open play since December 12 and only his second for his club this year, following his penalty against British Forces earlier this month.
Of his 15 goals, eight of them have been scored at Michelotti's expense - two in the first league encounter, five in a 7-0 rout in the quarter-finals of the Camelpaint Challenge Shield and one last night.
As for Michelotti, who were saved time and again by a brilliant display of goalkeeping by Chan Hing-wing, it was only their second defeat in the league, both at the hands of Eastern.