The Hindu : Sport / Football : Vasco gets past Assam Rifles

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Wednesday, Mar 01, 2006

Sport

Sport - Football

Vasco gets past Assam Rifles

Bangalore: In a match that had its rush of adrenaline in the early minutes before ebbing away into a tame contest, Vasco Sports Club maintained its early lead gained in the fourth minute to defeat Assam Rifles 1-0 in a second division Group B National Football League match at the Football Stadium here on Tuesday.

Minutes into the match, Vasco found a breach though Denis Cabral's cross from the right extreme seemed to be heading wide. However, Anthony Pereira pulled back the ball and his deft tap to Oliveira spelt disaster for Assam Rifles. Oliveira put the ball into the net past custodian Lokeswar Singh.

Assam Rifles' attempts hinged on the initial runs down the right flank by Bulu Jigding, who, however, either found Vasco goalkeeper Medeira or failed to get past defender Agnelo D'Costa. Assam Rifles did have a chance to draw level but with Changloi heading wide a Biswajit Singh lob, another opportunity was lost. Vasco failed to build on its fourth minute strike though Brazilian Edmilson Santos did threaten before deflecting a Fernandes long-ranger past the crossbar.

Trailing 0-1 at the break, Assam Rifles mounted a series of sorties that promised much but fizzled out without a goal. An Ajit Singh cross found the right nudge from Y.N. Singh but despite, Medeira failing to collect cleanly, the rebound was slammed into the crosspiece by Abel Sema. As the match wound to a close, Assam Rifles' Thoithoiba Singh received his second yellow card. His last offence was elbowing Queterio Pango.

The league will have a break on Wednesday as the scheduled match between HAL and Tollygunge Agragami has been postponed. Tollygunge is yet to arrive and the organisers are expecting the Kolkata outfit to arrive on March 2. The official reason being given is that Tollygunge failed to get Railway reservations.

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