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Haywards adds to Indian Bank's misery

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI DEC. 20. Indian Bank finished on the wrong side again, losing 2-4 to promoted team Haywards Sporting Club (Goa), in the eighth National Football League at the floodlit Nehru stadium on Saturday.

While the ebullient Goan side earned its second win in five matches, Indian Bank lost its fifth straight outing and is still waiting for its first point.

No one expected the final result considering the trend and tempo of the contest, which was exciting and even for the best part. If Sabir Pasha had the gathering on its feet in the 27th minute, then there was a strong reason. He had scored the Bank's first goal in the league! There was promise in that beautiful header for which Amjad Hussain had provided the tailor-made cross from near. That also brought Hussain into focus and he was easily the pick of the Bank players.

Would that goal inspire the team which had just one foreigner (Sri Lankan Fazlur Rehman playing for the first time) was the question. Till the halfway stage, Indian Bank not only held on but even dared deep forays. Moves were neatly crafted with accent on more men for the ball than individual enterprise. This helped in ball possession and Hamilton Bobby was there to encourage Pasha. The need of the hour was to sustain the good work and consolidate. In the past, the Chennai side had spun fairytales on good starts, but it has only been nightmares this season and the energetic Goan team reserved another for the Bank team.

In the 51st minute, the two Nigerians — Adewale Seriki and Dudu Omagbemi — showed their worth. Both went in tandem with Dudu, the side's prolific scorer, who finished the job. At the stroke of the hour, Andrade's flag kick came at a neat height for Seriki to backhead and Felix's misery had begun. The ball, which could have been stopped, bounced in and the complexion of the game changed.

Though Mahendra Mani did a class act with a volley on the run to make it 2-2 (68th), the Goan team was ready for the kill; such was its siege. The 82nd minute goal, courtesy substitute Avinash Thapa, was Dudu's handiwork. But the goal in the next minute was his own, a stunning shot on the turn to end all arguments.

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