Dempo coach Armando Colaco looked pleased after their encounter against Air-India at the Cooperage today. It was not only because they thrashed the local outfit 4-1, but also because their key striker, Ranty Martins, seems to have regained form.

Dempo played a fast-paced game, but Air India were off colour leaving their coach, Bimal Ghosh, looking miffed with their performance.

League leaders Dempo’s Nigerian strikers Chidi Edeh and captain Martins pumped in two goals each to power the Goan outfit to three away points and boost their overall tally to 17 from seven ties.

Air India, who scored their lone goal to neutralise the Goans’ initial strike in the first half through their Cameroon import Njoh Jean, remained on seven points from as many ties.

Dempo first found success in the 36th minute when Chidi scored from a Rebello Valeriano pass off a Roberto Silva free kick.

In the second half, Dempo shifted gear and went all out for the kill. In the 61st minute, Chidi completed his brace taking a shot from outside the box with the Air India goalkeeper caught napping. A few minutes later, Martins struck off a Climax Lawrence pass.

Down 1-3, Ghosh made quick substitutions— Narendra Meetei was brought in for Njoh and Zaheer Abbas for Dhanachandra Singh — but to no avail. Dempo managed to add one more goal to their tally. Again it was the visitors’ skipper Martins who scored after taking a brilliant shot on the run with no Air India defender in sight. A few minutes later, the Nigerian came close to scoring a hat-trick but the ball rebounded off the cross bar.

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