BEML wallops Chandni, brighten their chances to qualify for final round

BEML tore apart Chandni FC’s defense and pumped 6 goals in the first match of the day 9 of I-League 2nd Division Group A qualifiers. In another match played today, Malabar United beat Golden Threads 2-1.

It was one of those days when every thing went in favor for BEML and they shone in every department – their midfield led by Mahendra Mani totally controlled the game and provided accurate long passes, both the flanks moved up and down, defense was compact, and most importantly, their foreign striker Hamza regained his form, and scored a hat-trick for his team.

In the 8th minute of the game Hamza scored the first goal from a header, Don Bosco’s corner kick was spot on, and Hamza made no mistake.

In a very similar fashion BEML got their second goal in 21st minute, Ticken Singh took a shot from the left corner, Hamza timed his jump to perfection, and headed the ball to Chandni’s goal.

Hamza missed a couple of chances to increase his tally in 34th minute. RC Prakash centered the ball to and he took a quick shot at the goal, an alert Chandni goalkeeper saved a sure goal. A minute later RC made a similar move, but Hamza failed to reach to the ball.

The 3rd goal came in the 44th minute, when hard working right-winger Don Bosco passed the ball and RC Prakash, and the former national player placed the ball the far side post.

After exchanging ends, Chandni FC made some quick attacks, however, BEML defense lead by Shamaki and Ramesh thwarted all the attacks. Ramesh in particular had a great day on the field and seldom had he made mistakes.

 In 54th minute, RC was brought down by keeper Naseeb inside the penalty box, Hamza took the kick and completed his hat-trick.

Chandni gave up the game and started playing meaningless football, until striker Javed OK came very close to reduce the margin, but missed an open net. Last match hero for Chandni, Javed was totally off-color today.

Don Bosco’s replacement, young Sharath scored the 5th goal in 89th minute, when he ran a solo from the half-line, dribbled past few defenders, and finally pushed the ball to the goal.

In the 3-minute injury time, Chandni reduced the margin, however, the goal was canceled due to off-side.

A minute later, Mahendra Mani scored the final goal from a free-kick. The keeper was not in a position as the ball went past him.

Result:

• BEML 6 (Hamza-8', 20', and 54' [penalty], R C Prakash-44', Sarath-89', and Mahendra Mani-90+3') beat Chandni F.C 0
• Malabar United (Asif K-70' and Jacken Sebastian-88') 2 beat Golden Threads 1 (Sanjay Vennara-64')

Fridays Match:
 

SBT versus Titanium, 4 pm

HAL squander points again

City’s numero uno team, HAL failed yet again to register full points in the ongoing I-League 2nd Division group A qualifiers against Malabar United at the Bangalore Football Stadium. This is their 3rd consecutive draw in 4 games. In another match, SBT registered their maiden victory over Chandni FC 1-0.

What would have termed as an opportunity to garner full points ended in a tame 1-1 draw and one wonders how HAL was at the receiving end in most of the time.

HAL lacked that extra urge to go for the kill thru the entire game. It was Malabar who went on attacking at the beginning of the game. After raiding HAL’s defense for couple of time, Malabar United opened their account in the 15th minute – overseas player Loveday put a brilliant cross for Sebastian, who fooled the HAL defense, and only had the marching keeper Amar Deb in front. He dribbled past the keeper and shot the ball to the goal.

After conceding the goal, HAL came back to the game and forced couple of corners in quick succession. Fredrick’s goal was cancelled by the referee after he committed foul on Malabar’s keeper.

It was Fredrick Okwagbe again in the 32nd minute followed the ball from a corner in a packed Malabar defense and scored the equalizer.

If it was bad luck and complacency that deprived HAL from winning in their last 2 games, today, it was a poor show in general – the passes were inaccurate in most of the time, midfield lacked coordination with defense, and both the flanks operated slowly. Surely, they missed the service of their midfielder Murali, who was out of the match due to injury.

Malabar missed to score from close range couple of times in the second half. In the 50th minute, Loveday stretched the ball from the half, defeated a defender by pace, and floated the ball for Prasoon, who only failed get past the keeper.

A minute later Prasoon failed to score yet again, and this time goal keeper was not in his position.

HAL too missed easy chances and failed to take lead. Patrick Okwagbe was the culprit in 65th minute, he took too long to shoot the ball to the goal, and finally blocked by the opponents defender.

HAL played aimless football for the later part and many times they were playing the catching game.

HAL needs to win their next game against Golden Threads on Sunday, April 11 to be on a safe zone.

Result:

• HAL 1 (Fredrick Okwagbe 32') versus Malabar United 1 (Jacken Sebastian 15')
• SBT 1 (Mohammad Aslam-74') beat Chandni F.C 0

Tuesday’s match:

Titanium versus Golden Threads, 4pm

Javeed OKays for Chandni FC

Chandni FC registered their first victory in the I-League 2nd division group A Qualifiers by defeating Golden Threads 1-0.

It was an affair of the two Kerala teams, Golden Threads and Chandni FC who were placed at the 2nd and 3rd spot respectively before the match. A win should definitely brighten their hope to qualify for the final round.

Golden Threads started off well with Sanjay Vennara forming majority of the attack. He executed a solo run and a shot that missed the goal closely.

Chandni came back in the middle of the first half with 2 back to back attacks.

2nd half started well for Chandni. Striker Javed OK displayed some excellent skills with the ball, he missed a goal closely in the 59th minute. A minute later, Niyas Rehman’s powerful shot from the top of the penalty box was splendidly saved by the Golden keeper.

Golden Threads made regular counter attacks regularly, however, their long rangers, which they tried very often, went wide.

A big blow came for Threads in the 74th minute, when Shameer was shown marching order by referee, Vijaya Kumar. This was Shameer’s 2nd yellow card in that match; he was flashed yellow card earlier in the first half.

In the very next minute Javeed failed to score one from a corner, however, it was not a long wait for Chandni to score one – keeper Jinesh Thomas was not in his position when Thang Somi snatched the ball from a Golden Threads defender, instead of lobbing the ball above the keeper, Thang Somi passed the ball to Javeed, and Javeed placed the ball to the goal.

With 5 points after 3 rounds, Chandni FC is sitting pretty at 2nd position, next to HAL only on goal difference. Golden Threads slips to 4th position.

Result:

Chandni F.C 1(Javeed O K-79') beat Golden Threads 0

Monday’s match:

• Malabar United versus HAL, 2 pm
• SBT versus Chandni F.C, 4 pm

HAL survives scare against Chandni

 City giant and strong contender to qualify for the I-League 2nd division final leg, HAL struggled, and finally salvaged a draw against Chandni FC, Kozhikode.

HAL started the proceedings by attacking from left to right. Within the first minute of the game, Xavier’s powerful shot from the top of the penalty box was fisted out Chandni keeper Sakeer. Call it a start of a bad omen or what, HAL’s strike to their opponent’s goal was thwarted several times by the crosspiece.

Chandni FC took the lead as early 4th minute of the match. HAL keeper Amar Deb was ahead from the goal when Niaz Reahman smartly lobbed the ball to the far post. The placement was accurate, out of Amar’s reach.

HAL equalized in the 18th minute of the game when skipper Xavier Vijaykumar scored the goal from a defensive lapse.

However, Chandni came back in the game within 2 minutes. In HAL's defense, Satish Kumar (Jr) cleared the ball that hit Naveen Babu’s hand. Referee Arokia Raj awarded penalty for Chandni. Amar Dev’s stretched-dive couldn’t stop Javed O K’s penalty shot from going into the goal.

After conceding the 2nd goal, there was certain urgency from HAL, and they went all-out to pressurize Chandni’s defense.

The match was played in high temper and referee flashed yellow card several times to get a control of the game.

Second-half started in a dull note, with both the teams playing aimless football. HAL looked for an opening but they lacked the fineness of a scorer.

Xavier who primarily plays as a striker would often go down to support the mid-field to control the game. However, while doing so his other striking

partner, Fredrik Okwagbe was left alone without much support. Also, luck didn’t favor them as ball hit the goalpost twice during this time; Chandni keeper was not in a position to save them.

The equalizer came in the dying moments of the match when everybody thought that it was all over for HAL. Substitute Karthigayan centered the ball from the left flank, Sathish Kumar (Jr.) received and passed the ball to Xavier. Captain courageous coolly placed the ball to the goal thus saving his team from the blushes.

Change in kick-off time

Owing to inclement weather and fading light, match commissioner, Elloy Gomes has decided to start the matches 15 minutes before the schedules time. Effective from Friday, April 2 onwards, double header games start from 2 pm and 4 pm respectively. In the single game day, match starts from 4 pm.

Result:
 

HAL 2 (Xavier Vijayakumar-18' and 87') Vs Chandni FC 2 (Niyas Rehman-6' and Javed O K-20' [penalty])

Friday’s Match:

• SBT versus BEML, 2 pm
• Titanium versus HAL, 4 pm

Golden Threads upsets SBT

New entrant to the I-League 2nd Division, Golden Threads (from Ernakulam) started their journey in an exciting fashion after defeating SBT 2-1. In the other match, Malabar United, Kochi drew with Chandni F.C, Calicut 1-1.

What was anticipated by the Golden Threads management came true! Today morning while talking to GardenCity Soccer Stars, they predicted that the unknown factor and playing as an underdog would help in their way. That was exactly displayed in the match today.

SBT took the lead in the in the 17th minute of the match. However, their joy was short-lived, foreign recruit Onome leveled the score through a penalty in the 33rd minute.

Second-half started in a positive note for Golden Threads, they were dominating the game. The second goal came from some individual skills from Onome and equally bad defense from SBT. Onome toyed with 4 defenders and passed the ball to unmanned Sanjay Vannara, who kept his head cool and pushed the ball to the left side of the keeper.

Unfortunately in the 60th minute, SBT scorer Rakesh was shown marching order (after 2 yellow cards) and SBT had to play with 10 men for the rest of the match. However, the blow didn’t dampen the spirits of the bankmen, they looked up for scoring opportunities. Twice they came close to scoring; the long ranger shot closely missed the goalpost in few occasions.

SBT has task cut out to qualify for the final round. The former I-League 1st Division team is missing few key players from injury, etc, which would make their cause difficult.

Results:

• Golden Threads 2 (Onome-33' [(Penalty] and Sanjay Vannara-54') beat SBT 1 (Rakesh 7-17')
• Malabar United 1 (Jitesh CK-77' [(Penalty]) Chandni F.C 1 (Zubair KP 78)

Tomorrows match:

• HAL versus BEML, 4.15 pm

All-Kerala Team Meets in Bangalore

Inaugural day of the I-League 2nd Division Group A qualifiers will witness as many as 4 Kerala vying against each other. 

New entrant to the I-League 2nd division, Golden Threads plays the first match against traditional football powerhouse from Kerala, SBT. In the other match of the day, Chandni FC clashes with Malabar United.


SBT coach and former India international player VP Shaji sounded confident about faring well in this tournament. Shaji has been a seasoned campaigner for SBT during his football days, played SBT for 9 seasons and now he is back as a coach.

Earlier SBT made to the I-league Division 1 for few seasons, however, their stay at the top division had been irregular. Last time they played at the top division was on 2004-05 season.

Though both teams SBT and Golden Threads come from the same state, but they haven’t met before. With 7 state players in their side, SBT is ready to take the challenge of Golden Threads.

Coached by veteran Najeeb, Malabar United plays the next match against Chandni FC. Najeeb is just 4-months old in the office. He feels that his team is not bad, he has 2 foreigners from Nigeria in the defense and striker position, and confident enough to fair well in this tournament.
  

Matches on Saturday, March 27

Golden Threads versus SBT, 2.15 pm
Chandni F.C versus Malabar United, 4.15 pm