HAL move on to I-League division 1

Great news for the football lovers of the garden city! Next year’s football season will not be a dull and boring affair. The aircraftsmen make the cut, move on to the elite division, and bring Bangalore once again in the Indian football map.

Right from the beginning of the final phase, HAL was on the right track. It was coming alright; however, they have to wait till the last match and some anxious moments to make it happen.

Elated HAL coach, Muralidharan, finally thanked his players for bringing HAL to the top division of I-league. It was a dream he saw when he took the charge of this team some 2 seasons back.

HAL only needed a draw to make the cut. The game started in a very similar fashion, playing from left to right HAL tried to keep the possession of the ball. They were tad cautious; failed to make any positive attack in the first 30 minute. Xavier, who had an off-day today, messed-up in few occasions!

Sesa wards took the advantage of a complacent HAL defense - striker Israil Gurung passed a good cross for Selwyn Fernandes, the later was left unmarked, and scored the goal from a header.

Perhaps this jolt was needed for HAL to come back into the game. They looked little frustrated on their campaign - making some silly challenges and getting booked by the official.

When everyone thought that HAL would leave the pitch with a one-goal deficit in the lemon break, it was again Satish Kumar jr brought the aircraftsmen into the game.

The much awaited equalizer came from a nice move initiated by medio Jotin Singh – Jotin puts the ball for Xavier on the right flank, he receives and puts for Satish Kumar jr in the middle, Satish plays and quick one-one with Murali, and finally sends an accurate curling left-footed shot into the top-right corner of the net from out side the penalty box.

Making a comeback in the I-League division 1, HAL expects to make a competent team. Coach Muralidharan, has eyed on few promising players from Vasco and Malabar United. HAL sports secretary JoPaul Rajan assured about conforming to the AFC guidelines as per schedule. About retaining HAL talents from migrating to other top Indian clubs, Rajan said, “Being a public sector enterprise, we’ve certain limitation on shelling out big amount. We’ll try to get them into HAL roll for a secured life”.
 

I-league division 2 truly has been a flavor for the public sector teams. Other day ONGC qualified for the first time in I-league division 1 and now HAL re-enters in the big league. Ditto otherwise for the teams like Mohammedan Sporting and Vasco. The once regular in the I-league top division, these teams performed below par, and will fight from the qualifying stages in the next edition.


Vasco split points with Sporting

A disappointed Vasco, who already knew their fate before taking the field for the final match, played a 1-1 draw against hapless Vasco Mohammedan Sporting. Joel Sequeira gave Vasco the lead in the first-half. Later Sporting captain, Jothi Kumar drew-level in the 67th minute.


Result:

• HAL 1 (Sathish Kumar jr-44') Sesa 1 (Selwyn-29')
• Vasco 1 (Joel-35') Md. Sp. 1 (Jothi Kumar-67')

Next Match - May 25 (Round 7):

• Oil India versus Malabar United, 2 pm
• NISA, Manipur versus ONGC, 4 pm

ONGC seal first division spot

Playing like a true champ, ONGC defeated Sesa Football Academy, Goa convincingly and booked their berth for the coveted I-League division 1. Early strike by the strikers Babatunde and Tarif Ahmed made the difference and the rookies from Sesa never got a chance to get back to the game.

ONGC clinched the license to play for the I-league

division 1 next season with absolute dominance. Their endeavor in the final leg has been a revelation. They have played like a champion, wining all but one match so far, and already achieved what they wanted before playing their last round match.

The oilmen took the field to make early inroads. They got their first goal in the 5th minute thru Nigerian Badmus Babatunde. 13 minutes later it was time for Babatunde’s partner Tarif to score the second goal. Sitting pretty on a two-goal lead, ONGC played posessional, controlled the game and kept the Sesa wards at bay.

After coming very close to I-League division 1 in the last two seasons, the Mumbai outfit finally made it this time.


Pathetic display by Mohammedan

Mohammedan Sporting continued their dismal show by playing a 1-1 draw with Malabar United. Mohammedan took the field leaving behind their foreign imports that were unceremoniously released by the club management owing to pathetic performance in the final rounds of I-League division 2.

They started-off in a shaky note, Malabar quickly utilized the situation and took lead in the 8th minute of the match by a goal from Nigerian Loveday. Neelandra Deewan scored the equalizer in 56th minute.

Mohammedan should consider themselves lucky for not conceding any more goals. Malabar should have scored at least 4 more goals. They simply could not score goals, missed penalty, missed easiest of the easy sitters.

Result:

• Malabar Utd  (Loveday-8’) 1 Mohammedan Sporting (Neelandra-56’) 1
• ONGC (Babatunde-5' and Tarif-18’) 2 Sesa Football Academy 0

Next Match - May 24 (Round 7):

• HAL versus Sesa Football Academy, 2 pm
• Vasco versus Mohammedan Sporting, 4 pm

ONGC topples HAL

HAL got the first taste of defeat in the I-League division 2 final round by loosing to ONGC 2-1. All the goals were scored in the first half. ONGC took the lead in the 3rd minute of the game, HAL were quick to restore parity through Satish Kumar jr. ONGC netted another one in the 32nd minute and sealed the fate for HAL. In the 2nd match of the day, two bottom-ranked teams, Sesa and NISA played 1-1 draw.

It was a fight between the top teams. The spectators of the city team came in good numbers, they played drums to encourage the players throughout the match. However, HAL disappointed them by missing a penalty, missing easy chances, and displaying some aimless football in the second-half.

Nigerian striker Babatunde opened ONGC’s account in the 3rd minute - he receives a pass left to the left side of the box and intelligently places the ball to the far post, out of keepers reach.

HAL tried to hold the game in midfield, the equalizer came from a beautiful thru ball from Jotin Singh – Rajendra Prasad who was marching ahead from the right flank receives the ball and floats a center, Fredrick misses it, but Satish Kumar jr who was unmarked at the far post makes no mistake in putting the ball to the goal.

ONGC took the lead again, thanks to some shoddy work by the HAL defense - Jai Kumar fails to clear the ball cleanly, ONGC winger Naresh catches the ball, and takes an accurate long ranger.

HAL should have equalized in the early 2nd half – Nigerian striker Fredreick was brought down by an ONGC defender inside the box. Referee didn’t hesitate to declare a penalty. However, skipper Rajendra Prasad’s shot to the left side was easily saved by keeper Bilifang.

HAL was trying hard to get back into the game, but some good defending by ONGC did not make that happen. Sathish Kumar jr who earlier missed few chances was heavily marked and could not crack the ONGC defense.

The last 20 minutes were marred by some time-wasting tactics employed by ONGC and some aimless football by HAL.

ONGC remain the only team unbeaten so far and virtually booked their place in the 1st division. After loosing points today, HAL is in the 2nd spot with a point less from the leaders.

Result:

• ONGC 2 (Babatunde-3 and Naresh-32') beat HAL 1 (Satish Kumar jr)
• SESA 1 (Israil Gurung-66') - NISA 1 (Dewan Singh-81')

Next Match - May 20 (Round 6):

• HAL versus NISA, 2 pm
• Vasco Sports Club versus Oil India , 4 pm

Mohammedan Sporting struggle to beat Sesa; Tarif’s trick floors oil men

Mohammedan made a heavy weather of defeating bottom-ranked Sesa by 2-1. Theo and defender Debkumar Sashmal scored a goal each in either half. Jaiganesh Koltekar scored one for Sesa in the 2nd half. In an earlier rather

entertaining match played today, ONGC brightened their position to qualify for the final round by bulldozing the other public sector team, Oil India 4-1.

National team striker, Tarif Ahmed scored the first hat-trick of the final edition.
 

Lagging 4th behind HAL, ONGC, and Vasco, Mohammedan needed to win this match in a convincing fashion to stay in contention for promotion. Mohammedan scored the first goal in the 38th minute in Liberian Theodore.

Both the teams opened up many chances and missed as many in the game. In the early second-half, Sesa came back into the game by a goal from rookie Jaiganesh Koltekar. 5 minutes after the equalizer, Theo took the ball from the left flank and penetrated inside the box, Jothikumar who was rightly-positioned, failed to connect the ball properly.

In the 59th minute, substitute Nilendra Deewan took a horrible wide shot away from the goal. It came to him from a deflection from Theo’s shot, which was perfectly floated from the right-flank.

Sesa striker Israil Gurung, who broke an off-side trap, was set alone with the keeper in the front in the 68th minute. However, he was tripped down by defender Samuel Shore at the top of the penalty box. Mid-fielder, Prathesh Shirodkar’s free kick was shot wide.

Mohammedan took the lead in 79th minute, Edu was cutting in dangerously

from the left flank until the defender cleared it for corner. Edu took the corner that was meant for Theo, which the later closely missed, finally opportunistic defender Debkumar Sashmal who closely followed and placed the ball into the goal.

Sesa later came back and started pressurizing Mohammedan defense, but failed to keep the ball into the goal-area.

Post match comments:

Shabbir Ali, coach, Mohammedan Sporting: Disappointing show again, never

seen my team playing so badly. I thought we would pull this out easily, but it turned otherwise. Other challenge is that two important players are out for the next match due to double booking. Don’t have options in all departments; have to shuffle the playing positions.

Clifford Chukwuma, coach, Sesa: Our boys created many opportunities but lacked in penetration and final touch. Even blew several set-pieces from crucial positions. Also, we’re missing our main striker, who is injured and played an important role in Goa’s Santosh Trophy victory last year.

Theodore Sunday Wrobeh, scorer, Mohammedan Sporting: We’ve won today, and there are 3 more rounds to play, so all is not lost, we need to come well in the remaining matches..

Result:

• ONGC 4 (Tarif Ahmed-28', 44', and 66' and Badmus Babatunde-38') beat Oil India ( H L Route-76')
• Mohammedan Sporting 2 (Theodore Sunday-38' and Debkumar Sashmal-79') beat Sesa Football Academy 1 (Jaiganesh Koltekar-49')

Next Match - May 13 (Round 4):

• Malabar United versus NISA, 2 pm
• HAL versus Vasco, 4 pm

HAL trounce Oil men

In a skillful display of the game of football, HAL crushed Oil India, Dhuliajan 3-1 in their second round match of the I-League 2nd division. HAL was leading by a Xavier VijayKumar goal in the first-half. In the other match of the day, Malabar United defeated Sesa Football Academy 3-0.

HAL started the game with a proper plan to hold the speedy Oil men. Xavier played from the flank and Satish Kumar (jr.) started with Fredrick as a striking duo.
 
Match progressed in a lively pace with Oil India bagging the first corner in the 4th minute of the match. A minute later, it was HAL’s turn from the other side. However, Jotin’s head from the corner went wide.

HAL kept the possession of the ball in the opponent's end, playing short passes, and then going for the kill. They got their first chance as early as 13th minute, Nigerian Fredrick received the final pass from a nice move, however, Fredrick’s feeble shot went outside the goal post. Fredrick’s striking partner, Sathish Kumar (jr) couldn’t capitalize from a defensive lapse in the 19th minute.

Oil India got a chance by Ricky Joy’s rare clumsy clearance in the 21st minute. Stopper Femi Adeola had no other option, but to come down heavily on the Oil India striker. The free-kick from the top-corner of the penalty box yielded no result for Oil India.

Unlucky to say the least, Oil India could have taken the lead in the 29th minute, Jayanta Basumatary’s powerful right-footed long ranger hit the left post; keeper Amar Deb was no where close to the ball.

HAL picked up their 1st goal after a minute from a corner. Skipper Rajendra Prasad took the flag-kick, wily Xavier VijayKumar headed the ball that was beyond the reach of the keeper.

HAL put up a spirited performance after the goal, with the striker duo combining well, ably supported by the mid-field.

After changing ends, HAL came out in a more organized manner and the 2nd goal was just the result of that discipline - Sathish Kumar (jr) scored after dribbling past 2 defenders.

Oil India had their share of chances, they did well to get the ball to the opponent’s end, but then it was the regular story of losing the plot and missing easy chances. The lacked the finishing abilities and were often clueless inside the penalty box area.

Meanwhile, Xavier scored his second goal in the 71st minute. Substitute for Oil India Prashanta Choudhary pulled one the 87th minute. But by then it was all over for Oil India.

Xavier, who scored a brace, talked to us after the match, he was happy in team’s performance, however, he was not satisfied by his own performance in the role of the winger. He hopes to better it and ready the don the new role for his team.

2 wins from 2 matches and today’s result must satisfy HAL coach Muralidharan. HAL played a far better game today, they excelled in all departments! They have scored 3, and should have scored another 3 today.

Malabar thrash Sesa

In another match played earlier today, Kerala outfit, Malabar United won convincingly against the academy team from Sesa, Goa. All the 3 goals were scored in the second-half. 

The teams were at par in the first half, however, 2 quick goals in the early 2nd half dented the morale of the young Sesa guys, and then they failed to come back to the game.

Clifford Chukwama, who earlier coached I-league division 1 team Sporting Club de Goa, blamed experience (rather lack of it) for this result. “Two goals in quick succession did us in. Also, the penalty was not justified as my player made no body contact with the opponent player.” said Chukwama. Also added, “2 defeats from as many matches, had really made the task difficult for us”.

Result:

• Malabar United 3 (Loveday-53', Asif K-55 [penalty], and Firos K-70') Sesa Football Academy 0
• HAL 3 (30' and 71'-Xavier Vijaykumar, and Satish Kumar jnr.-53') Oil India 1 (Prasanta-87')

Next Match - May 5 (Round 2):

• Vasco Sports Club versus ONGC, 2 pm
• NISA, Manipur versus Mohammedan Sporting Club, 4 pm