Three cheers to Mahindras hat-trick

Three cheers to Mahindras hat-trick
RAYMOND FERNANDES

MUMBAI, JANUARY 10: Mahindras registered their third straight triumph, when they trounced State Bank of Travancore 3-0 in the Coca-Cola National Football League at the Cooperage today.

With this triumph, Mahindras, who have tallied 12 points from seven outings, displace Goa's Churchill Brothers from the second spot on the league ladder with a superior goal difference. Churchill, however, have played only six ties. Salgaocar head the table with 14 points.

The hero of the match was Jordanian-import Bassam Khatib. He gave a fine display of touch-football and netted a brace in the second session after the local side led by a 30th minute Satish Minz goal at the breather. Mahindras mid-fielder Aqeel Ansari paved the way for all three goals with his precise distribution.

In the post-match briefing, acting Mahindras coach Harish Rao said he has still to find a striker to combine with Khatib in attack. Manjeet Singh and M Najeeb have both failed to read the fine promptings of the Jordanian. SBT coach N MohammedNajeeb said that this was the worst performance by his side and that Mumbai was growing to be a jinx for them. ``We even lost to Union Bank in the Inter-bank competition,'' he added. Hosts SBT had humbled Churchill Brothers 3-1 in their last tie.

Mahindras' first good attempt at goal came late in the 21st minute. Khatib's header, following a Khalid Siddique corner, beat goalkeeper G Manoharan but rebounded off the inner edge of the crosspiece.

Minutes later, Khatib's back-heeled pass to Manjeet caught the entire SBT defence on the wrong foot but Manjeet shot wide from the top of the box.They took the lead in the 30th minute, when Satish Minz trapped a long clearance from his own half at the centre-line. He passed it to Aqeel and the latter sent him racing down the centre with a fine through that caught the entire defence napping. Minz closed in and beat SBT goalkeeper Manoharan with a low shot to the left of the 'keeper.

SBT did not field stopper Jiju Jacob, who was injured, in the second session. Jacobhad marshalled Khatib well in the first half. Enjoying the freedom, Khatib made it 2-0 in the 48th minute. He combined with Aqeel in a fine passing bout down the centre before the latter relayed a defence-splitting through, which Khatib placed home past a helpless substitute Feroz Sheriff.

The last Mahindras goal came following a fine move between Manjeet, Aqeel and Khatib in the 59th minute. Khatib applied the finishing touches after a neat forward pass by Aqeel.

JCT-FC Kochin draw
KOCHI: JCT and FC Kochin continued their string of head-to-head drawn encounters with a 2-2 draw. Both teams have drawn all five meetings between them in the NFL thus far, while FC Kochin snatched the credit of drawing all four games at home this year. JCT, with nine points, are one point clear of FC Kochin after seven games apiece.

Striker Hardeep Singh Gill (32nd and 75th) netted a brace for the millmen, while Noel Wilson (48th) and I M Vijayan (74th) found the mark for FC Kochin.

EB suffersetback
CALCUTTA: East Bengal's title ambitions received a further setback as they were held 1-1 by a youthful Dempo in the Fourth National Football League (NFL) match here on Monday.

The Goan side shot into the lead in the 17th minute through Iranian striker Kamal Seied. East Bengal pressed hard in the second session and restored parity when veteran Tushar Rakshit found the target in the 75th minute.

Dempo's goal came following a move from the right, as Eusebio D'Souza fed an overlapping right back Sameer Naik, who lost no time in unleashing a measured minus from near the corner flank. With East Bengal defenders not not in position, the ball came to Socorrinho Silveira who failed to connect, and Seied finished with a diagonal left footer.

Promising medio Dipankar Roy did the spadework for the home team's equaliser with a long lob from the left, which went to Tushar Rakshit off Ranjan Dey and the old warhorse kept his cool to put the ball home.

East Bengal now have eight points from sixmatches, as against 14 by leaders Salgaocar. Dempo are still lying at the bottom with three points from six outings.

Rivals under pressure
MARGAO: Churchill Brothers will go all out to gain full points when they meet Border Security Force (BSF) here on Tuesday in the National Football League.

Demoralised by two successive defeats, including an upset loss against SBT (1-3), Churchill would be eager to regain their lost confidence against BSF, who have 12 points from their first four wins in six matches.

``We have played well in our earlier five matches but the early goal in the last match against Salgaocar let us down where our midfield and defence failed to click and never recovered. But tomorrow we will improve ourselves and play a different game against our strong opponent who will captilise the home advantage,'' BSF manager SC Negi said.