The Hindu : Sport / Football : HAL beats Indian Bank

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Saturday, Mar 04, 2006

Sport

Sport - Football

HAL beats Indian Bank

Sports Reporter

BANGALORE: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) began its ONGC Cup Group B second division National Football League, on a winning note, beating Chennai's Indian Bank 1-0. The scorer was Kenneth Onu.

Indian Bank played well below its form and conceded territorial advantage to the local side.

Despite the presence of India players Xavier Vijaykumar and S. Kuttimani, the local team missed Sunil, down with an injured heel.

The signs were ominous from the very start and HAL within the first 20 minutes had two close looks at the rival goal. First Kenneth Onu, who did hardly anything of note but for the all important goal, jabbed wide and then a Nanda Kumar header off a Rajendra Prasad flag-kick went wide.

However almost at the call of half-time came the match-winner. A long ball from defender Anand Vasan was headed down by Xavier and Kenneth Onu lurking in the middle of the box turned and slammed the ball past stopper Joseph Anthony Noel and custodian Felix Edward.

The second half was a mediocre affair with the Bankmen showing neither urgency nor allowing room for the rival forwards. V.P. Sathyan, the Bank coach brought in Syed Sabir Pasha early on in the second half but the veteran hardly had a good feel of the ball.

Referee Francisco Fernandes of Goa booked three Bank players with yellow card for rough play, while HAL stopper Pawan Kumar earned the umpire's wrath for playing the ball after the whistle.

While HAL, whose match against Tollygunge Agragami was put off to a later date, has three points from its only match so far, Indian bank has only one point to show from two matches.

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