The Hindu : Sport / Football : Xavier gives HAL full points

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Saturday, May 06, 2006

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Sport - Football

Xavier gives HAL full points

Principal Correspondent

Bangalore: A lukewarm contest, in which local favourite HAL hardly capitalised on its superiority and Vasco SC played second fiddle, eventually had a result thanks to Xavier Vijay Kumar's 51st minute goal. The HAL captain latched on to Zenith's pass and after weaving in from the right, side-stepped Queterio Pango to fired home a diagonal volley that beat a diving goalkeeper Milagrio Medeira.

HAL's 1-0 victory in the ONGC Cup NFL Second Division Super League match at the Football Stadium here on Friday helped it draw level with Tata Football Academy. Both teams have six points each and are behind Churchill Brothers (10) and Army XI (7), but TFA has played only three matches while the others have played four.

Vasco stayed at the bottom with a lone point from four games and has SBT — one point from three — for company.

Barren first half

HAL dominated the match but failed to convert it into goals right through the first half. Rajendra Prasad, Zenith and Kenneth Onu had their chances but frittered them away with last minute glitches. Vasco, meanwhile, kept back-pedalling and with the midfield too bolstering the defence, its forwardline was strapped for passes.

In the second half, HAL continued its sorties and Xavier nearly pulled off a goal until his collision with a charging Milagrio. Minutes later, he slotted home the decisive goal and for the rest of the match HAL sat on its lead while Onu and Zenith continued to flounder near the Vasco goalmouth.

The Goan outfit succumbed to frustration and a slew of rough tackles and four yellow cards — Caitano Costa, Queterio Pango, Remedios Barreto and Anthony Pereira — only worsened a bad day.

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