The Hindu : Sport / Football : Remarkable rally by Vasco

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Tuesday, Mar 01, 2005

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Remarkable rally by Vasco

By Our Sports Reporter

KOLKATA, FEB. 28. Vasco SC made a remarkable comeback in the second session to surprise home favourite DTDC Tollygunge Agragami 2-1 in a 11th round match of the IX National Football League match at the Salt Lake Stadium here on Monday.

After downing three-time champion Mohun Bagan by a solitary goal in the earlier round, the Goan team had enough motivation to repeat the success against Agragami. With this win, Vasco's tally of eight points after 10 matches took it past Churchill Brothers (six points).

Agragami, which now has 11 points from nine games, began briskly and took the initiative with a goal in the 18th minute. It went on to dominate the first half even as the visitor was confined to the midfield for most part. The goal was the result of a perfect free-kick by Ghanaian Suley Musah which was headed home by forward Surajit Bose.

Vasco came close to equalising in the 36th minute but Sidney Rodrigues' effort came off the upright.

In the second session, Agragami went into a shell while Vasco kept making repeated forays. These efforts bore fruit as Rodrigues found the equaliser in the 64th minute with an opportunistic strike. The Vasco forward was second-time lucky when his free-kick, taken a few metres away from the box, saw the ball deflect off the protective Agragami wall before making its way into the goal past the wrong-footed custodian Arindam Ghosh.

The equaliser seemed to have fired up the visitor as substitute Anees K. found the winner off a superb through-pass from Rodrigues in the next 10 minutes. Agragami had two good chances to level the score but Surajit Bose (76th minute) and Nigerian Akeem Abulalem only managed to land the ball on the side net.

Ganguly's pep talk

With the three-time National Football League champion Mohun Bagan faltering in the last few rounds, Sourav Ganguly took time off from his practice session to talk to the players of his favourite club.

Approached by Bagan coach Subrata Bhattacharya, the Indian captain had a 10-minute `motivation' session with the Bagan squad. With the home team taking on Salgaocar on Wednesday, Bhattacharya would be hoping that Ganguly's words would provide the much-needed boost to his side.

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