Tuesday, Dec 02, 2003
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Football
By Our Special Correspondent
Indian Bank defender Rajesh Kumar Pandey (centre) trying to stop JCT's Stephen Aborewei in their National Football League match in Chennai on Monday. Aborewei scored the first goal for JCT in its 3-0 win.
The sparse gathering was hardly enthused by Indian Bank's low-key display. Clearly, the absence of foreign recruits (three Sri Lankan players are still to join) had an impact on the team's sharpness. Normally known for its fighting qualities, the Bank team's performance was like a cat on a hot tin roof. There was enough confusion and panic, with waywardness compounding the problem. The Bank defence was repeatedly split, and with nothing to show off in the midfield, poor Sabir Pasha and Mahendra Mani were hard-pressed to come up with anything fruitful upfront. In the event, the Punjab squad — unchallenged for most part though veteran I.M. Vijayan was hardly given room to show his wiles — saw its goals come easily. Nigerian Stephen Aborewei, far from top fitness, scored the first goal (12th minute), Sukjinder Singh made it 2-0 in the 19th minute and substitute Charanjit Kumar completed the tally in the 68th minute. A season opener is a test of the level of preparation and also an occasion to rectify the mistakes for the battles ahead. In this regard, the Bank side has a lot of introspection to do though it is a moot point if JCT had been tested enough on its weak points. One thing, however, was clear — the Ghanaian goalkeeper Mansuru Mohammad is JCT's strongest link. He can be a great inspiration, not only with his loud communicative skills but also his alacrity. His speed and skill was evident during the rare offensive launched by Indian Bank towards the fag end of the match when Pasha met a Mani cross perfectly. Pasha does not miss such juicy passes, but barring the cheer around, nothing else happened as the ball was safely collected by Mansuru. On the other hand, the Bank goalkeeper Edward Felix came into focus for the wrong reasons. First, when he failed to see danger in the form of Stephen after Rampal chipped a flag kick into the box. The defence fell on Vijayan but the veteran sold a dummy. Then, Felix charged out to check Sukjinder, who had latched on to a Vijayan through ball, and left an open goal for exploitation. Such misjudgements can undo any team and the Chennai side could achieve very little today. The enthusiasm was there but there was no co-ordination; by the time a move took shape, there was a crowd of JCT players ahead as a hurdle. Such was the swiftness with which its midfield — Rampal, Sukjinder, Jaswinder and Harwinder — worked, running up and down. In the later stages, the Bank team tried its best to rattle the rival defence. Pasha once sent a scorcher to Mansuru but to no avail. It was during this time that Felix made another mistake, failing to grasp a Stephen `soft-try' off a phenomenal throw-in by Daljit Singh. JCT's Charanjit was there to provide the finishing touches.
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