The Hindu : Sport / Football : Swar is Agragami's hero

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Wednesday, Feb 02, 2005

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Sport - Football

Swar is Agragami's hero

By Our Sports Reporter

KOLKATA, FEB. 1. DTDC Tollygunge Agragami took full points beating Goa visitor, Fransa FC, 2-1 in a fifth round match of the ninth National Football League here at the Salt Lake Stadium on Tuesday.

Dinesh Swar put the host ahead in the 28th minute before Fransa equalised through Sebastian Andrew two minutes later as the first session ended 1-1. Swar showed his scoring knack once again in the second session with a 75th minute header that clinched the issue for Tollygunge Agragami. The win helped the home team net eight points from five matches while Fransa remained on seven points after its fifth tie.

Agragami utilised the advantage of playing on home turf as it attacked through its two-man forward line of Nigerian Akeem Abulalem along with Swar. Swar netted home the first goal after getting a pass from Agragami midfielder Gauranga Dutta. Soon Andrew sounded the boards for Fransa, heading home a corner from Saikhon Singh. Tollygunge doubled its attack thereafter but failed to regain the lead as Akeem and Surojit Basu squandered close chances.

The second session saw Agragami opting for a defensive approach while the visitor was on attack mode. This almost paid off but Benjamin Ansa missed the opportunity from close after a centre from Jules Alberto eluded Agragami's defensive players before reaching the former unmarked. While Fransa missed the chance, the host found the target on the counter offensive. Picking a long provision from own defence, Akeem made a brief solo run before taking a crack at the Fransa goal. Guha thwarted the attempt but failed to clear the ball, which was headed home by Swar.

Ansa almost got the equaliser for Fransa through his 89th minute attempt off a free-kick but the ball came off the upright after hitting the hand of Agragami custodian Arindam Ghosh. Swar was declared the man-of-the-match.

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