The Hindu : Sport / Football : Match drawn after late flurry

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 31, 2007
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Match drawn after late flurry

Principal Correspondent

KOZHIKODE: Just when Vasco and Chirag United seemed determined to play out the dullest goalless draw of the year in Indian football, out of the blue came a goal. Barely six minutes later, came an even better goal as the NFL second division match ended in a 1-1 draw at the Corporation Stadium here on Friday.

Chirag, the Kolkatan side which hasn't lived up to the expectations, thus opened its account, while Vasco took its tally to four points and joined fellow-Goan club Salgoacar at the top of the table. With all the six teams having played two games each, Viva Kerala is in the second position with three points, a point ahead of Army XI. Chirag and ONGC have one point apiece.

On another extremely hot and humid evening, the sparse crowd had been lulled into sleep by the combined efforts of Chirag and Vasco when Theodore Sundy Wrobeh put the Kolkatans ahead in the 75th minute. The Vasco defenders could only watch in disbelief when Wrobeh scored following a long goal kick taken by goalkeeper Somnath Khara, who had replaced an injured Pralay Dutta after the interval. Wrobeh, after being fed by Maduko Chibueze Francis, darted in and placed the ball accurately past the advancing goalkeeper Lakshmikanth Kuttimani.

Suddenly the game came alive and the next 15 minutes produced more action than in the previous 75. Vasco took no time to bounce back after conceding that goal and its coach Shabbir Ali wisely sent in Remedios Barreto in place of Emmanuel. And Remedios provided immediate remedy to his team's problems, with a splendid free kick from midway inside the rival half, which was converted into the equaliser by Keke Ibrahim with a superb header in the 81st minute.

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