HAL on course; BEML blows golden opportunity

Seems like the city giant HAL just waked up in time and thrashed Golden Threads 5-0. In the other match played today, Titanium held BEML to a 1-1 draw. The other city team wasted many chances to gain the top spot in the group A.

HAL shrugged-off the bad memories of the last two matches, they meant business right from the offset. Nigerian striker Fredrick Okwagbe drew the first blood in the 12th minute of the game.

Right through the first-half, the ball was mostly seen in the Golden’s end. In 24th minute,  Satish Kumar (Junior) missed one easy chance to score from a defense scuffle.

HAL took a 2-0 lead in the 40th minute from a corner. Rajendra Prasad’s corner was initially received by Xavier Vijaykumar, which was relayed to Fredrick, and Fredrick’s powerful header was good enough to gave his team a 2-0 lead.

Couple of minutes later, HAL keeper Amar Deb made a complete mess of the situation. He missed the flight and couldn’t hold on to the ball. The goal was unguarded; it could have been a goal for Golden, however, the Golden striker failed to connect the ball.

HAL today displayed a much improved game. They started the 2nd half with same urgency to finish match in style and was it clearly evident in all the departments.

Meanwhile Fredrick scored his hat trick in the 4th minute of 2nd half.

In a counter attack, Golden Thread striker, Sanjay Vennara’s powerfuljavascript:void(0) shot from the left of the box was saved by Amar Deb.

HAL should have scored few more goals. Fredrick and mid-fielder Jotin Singh came very close to scoring. In many occasion, HAL toyed with rival’s defense - but either failed to get past the keeper or put the ball away from the goal.

To keep the resources fresh, skipper Xavier along with few other key players were replaced in the early 2nd half.

Gopi, who replaced Xavier scored the 4th goal in the 88th minute. Medio Vishal Kumar tried passing the ball to Gopi, Golden keeper failed to grab the ball, miscues it, finally Gopi snatched the ball the placed to the goal.

It was Gopi again who scored the 5th goal. In the 92nd minute, Jotin Singh took a shot, which was bounced by the keeper, an alert Gopi collected the ball and placed to the opponent’s goal.

It was an exhibition of missed chances displayed in the BEML – Titanium match. BEML dominated the first-half, however, they failed to convert from the many chances that came their way.

BEML midfield suffered a blow when veteran Mahendra Mani was replaced at the later stages of the first-half. Hayath Khalander was brought in at the central midfield position. Hayath, who primarily plays as an attacking midfielder was effective in the first half.

BEML took lead in the 55th minute, a penalty was awarded to BEML when Cleetus handled the ball inside the box. Defender Alesh Shamaki made no mistake in placing the ball to the extreme right of the goal.

Their joy was short-lived!

Mani’s service was majorly missed in the 2nd half. There was no one to hold the ball for BEML; there was a flurry of attack from Titanium from the middle. In the 65th minute Boniface crossed the ball for Abdul Hameed, Hameed to the much delight of Titanium, headed the ball to the goal.

A win should have ensured BEML a birth to the final round of the 2nd  division I-League. Now, much would depend on the outcome of the result between tomorrows match between, Malabar United and SBT.

HAL plays their last match of the group against SBT on next Wednesday, April 14, 4 pm. BEML plays their last match on Thursday, April 15, 4 pm.

Result:

• HAL 5 (Fredrick Okwagbe 12', 40', and 49' and Gopi 88' and 90+2') beat Golden Threads 0
• BEML 1 (Alesh Shamaki-55') versus Titanium 1 (Abdul Hameed-65')

Mondays Match:

Malabar United versus SBT, 4 pm

KSFA Facilitates Xavier VijayKumar

KSFA today felicitated HAL captain Xavier VijayKumar, winner of the Karnataka State Government’s Ekalavya award for the year 2008.

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

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

BEML waste points, Malabar bag full points

City team BEML could not hold their lead, squandered many chances, and ended in a 2-2 draw against Golden Threads. In the other match of day, Malabar United came back from a one-goal deficit, and defeated Titanium 2-1.

The earth movers took lead in the 4th minute of the match. Striker Hamza broke the sleepy Golden Threads defense and passed the ball his partner RC Prakash. RC made no mistake in placing the ball to the side net from a close range.

Few minutes later, left-out Tiken Singh snatched the ball from a Threads defender and took a powerful shot at the goal, unfortunately the ball hit the left post.

Golden Threads made some quick attacks after conceding the goal and challenged BEML’s defense. BEML defense lacked coordination and looked shaky. This was the time Golden Threads came back to the game. Sanjay Vennara took a stunning header from Abhijit K’s cross from the right flank and scored the equalizer.

Second-half started in a lackluster fashion with ball traveling from one end to another end rather hopelessly. In 56th minute, Don Bosco’s innocuous-looking shot from the top of the penalty box found the second goal for the earth movers.

It was wily Sanjay Vennara again who leveled the score in the 74th minute of the match.

Later in the secone half, BEML strikers failed to score from few easy chances, and denied full points to the team.

With a draw and a loss, BEML’s chance to qualify for the final round looks bleak Golden Threads seats pretty at the top of the points table with 4 points from 2 games.

Result:

• Malabar United 2 (Shamjith-60' and Loveday-84') Vs Titanium 1 (Prasanth Simon-42')
• BEML 2 (RC Prakash 4' and Don Bosco 56') Vs Golden Threads 2 (Sanjay Vennara-14' and 74')

Wednesdays match:

• HAL versus Chandni FC, 4.15 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