The Hindu : Sport / Football : Fransa FC suffers first defeat

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Friday, May 21, 2004

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Sport - Football

Fransa FC suffers first defeat

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, MAY 20. Fransa FC, Goa, suffered its first defeat in the Second Division National Football League at the hands of HASC, Bangalore, at the Football Stadium here on Thursday.

Today's 1-0 win enhanced HASC's chances of clinching one of the two First Division berths on offer.

Now, Fransa, SBT and HASC are at the top of the table with six points each, while Kolkata's Ever Ready is one point adrift of the leaders to remain at the second spot.

Fransa and HASC dished out an entertaining football. Exchanges were more or less even in the first half, where a few fast moves by Emerson Da Silva down the flanks were a regular feature. The Brazilian had a few snipes at the rival goal but none caused panic in the HASC defence.

For HASC, Eduado Chacon and Obino Winners were rock-solid in the defence. Amit Singh Ray, under the HASC bar, stayed cool through out match to foil Fransa moves. Fransa goalkeeper, Juge Siddi, who had a busy time under the bar tipped Eduado Chacon header that threatened to curl in. When Da Silva could make no impact with an inviting forward ball on the run that gave him an open chance, the HASC replied by making a few raids into the rival territory.

Xavier and Sunil were at the head of a glorious effort in which both showed exemplary ball control. The finish just did not match the spadework.

Fransa's desperation manifested itself in those three yellow card bookings on Crasson Antao, Emerson Da Silva and Naushad Pari for rough play.

Amit Singh Ray's resilience was tested by a firmly struck free kick by Adewusi Tokunbo. But the lanky goalkeeper managed to tip the ball over, the worst for HASC seemed to have passed over.

For the next 20 minutes, the local side put immense pressure on the Fransa defence. The origin of the goal-scoring move began with Sunil who put Xavier through on the right. After a dash into the box, Xavier crossed for the fast advancing Dayanand who made the right contact with the ball to beat Siddi hollow in the 53rd minute.

The unexpected reversal put more pressure on Fransa strikers. There were a few desperate lunges but none had the firepower to beat the HASC defence.

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