The Hindu : Sport / Football : Maiden win for HAL

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Feb 19, 2007
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Sport - Football

Maiden win for HAL

Principal Correspondent

Bangalore: Captain Xavier Vijay Kumar did the star turn as local favourite Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Sports Club (HAL) notched up its maiden win in the current National Football League.

HAL's 2-1 victory over fancied Sporting Clube de Goa at the Football Stadium here on Sunday, pushed its tally to five from five matches while the Goan outfit remained on four from the same number of games.

While Xavier and Satish scored for HAL, Dudu found the lone goal for Sporting Clube.

Sporting Clube began brightly as Meetei Rajesh, Rodrigues Nicholas and Bello Rasaq combined well on the left flank. However, the trio failed to come up with a good finish.

Murali fired a wild volley to signal HAL's positive intent and later an error-prone Bhuvan Singh fired a diagonal that was too wide. Xavier, too, threatened to break loose though he messed up with a faltering kick instead of placing the ball for an unmarked Murali.

The persistent Xavier had his reward in the 44th minute when he latched on to Murali's pass, entered the box, weaved his way past three defenders and a charging goalkeeper Chinta Chandrashekar to trigger celebrations in the stands.

Dudu delights

HAL failed to keep the momentum going in the second half as Sporting Clube fielded its key striker Dudu for Jeremiah Ernest in the 49th minute.

Dudu, with his superior control and agility, ran circles around the HAL defence. When he was fouled inside the box by Pawan Kumar in the 70th minute, referee Shaji Kurien showed the spot. Dudu converted with ease, and it was his fourth goal in the league.

Just when Dudu and Rodrigues threatened to strike again, Xavier chipped the ball through to an unmarked Satish, substituting for Srikanth. Satish blocked the pass and volleyed hard just inside the box. Even as he slipped and fell, he watched the ball crash into the net.

The 82nd minute strike evoked a long round of applause from the HAL fans and the cheers never stopped as the local side trooped out triumphantly. Satish was adjudged `player of the match.'

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