The Hindu : Sport / Football : Indian Bank in final

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 10, 2004

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Sport - Football

Indian Bank in final

CHENNAI, DEC. 9. With seconds remaining for the half-time, Indian Bank's Nigerian striker Mike Chinedu Odi flashed across the Integral Coach Factory goalmouth, sold a dummy, and then slotted in with his left-foot, breaking the dead-lock. It was quick stuff.

And seconds to go for the final whistle, Odi walked back a shattered man, after picking his second yellow card of the match — referee P. Bhaskar soon pulled the red card out of his pocket — for, ironically, delaying tactics.

Indian Bank kept its appointment with the final of the Indian Oil-fourth state-ranking football tournament, defeating ICF 2-0 at the Nehru Stadium on Thursday, however, Odi's sending off, took some sheen off the victory. This valuable forward will not be available for Sunday's decisive game.

Syed Sabir Pasha was the other scorer for Indian Bank, latching on to a probing pass from Andrew Louis in the second half, and after tearing down the left flank, rocketing the ball into the far right corner of the net with his left-foot.

With more control in the mid-field, Indian Bank was the better team, and the player to impress was the Manipuri lad, James Singh, who is swift and acrobatic, with a sound positional sense.

ICF did create some opportunities down the right wing in the second half, but some ordinary finishing proved the side's undoing. In the dying moments, Ashok Kumar essayed a snap shot on the turn, but the ball streaked past the right post, summing up ICF's day in the park. — Our Special Correspondent

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