The Hindu : Sport / Football : JCT, Dempo play out goalless draw

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Monday, Dec 17, 2007
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JCT, Dempo play out goalless draw

Principal Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The much-anticipated clash between Dempo Sports Club, Goa, and JCT Phagwara, the top two teams in the ONGC I-League football championship, ended in a dull goalless draw at the Ambedkar Stadium here on Sunday.

On a sun-basked chilly day, Goans took time to warm up while JCT seemed happy to get away with its second draw as the two teams remained undefeated at the end of the sixth round.

Dempo leads the table with 14 points and JCT follows behind at 12.

Playing in front of a sparse crowd that was much less than what Durand Cup attracted last month, JCT attacked early on when Baljit Singh Sahni’s powerful shot left Dempo goalkeeper V.P. Satish Kumar fumbling to collect.

On rebound though, Baldeep Singh sent a miss-directed shot to lose the initiative.

As both the teams missed their key strikers — Sunil Chetri for JCT and Nigerian Chidi Edeh for the Goan outfit — they seemed reluctant to take chances upfront.

Climax Lawrence provided some hope when he sent in a nice pass for his skipper Ranty Martins, but the Nigerian’s shot from the top of the box flew just wide off the post.

Sameer Naik kept up the momentum for Dempo as he sent a good cross in the centre. Ranty was again the culprit, heading the ball out of the play.

Silva disappoints

JCT’s Brazilian striker Eduardo da Silva, who has been in fine form scoring against Mohun Bagan and East Bengal in his team’s impressive wins in Kolkata, made a counterattack in the 21st minute but Naik thwarted the opportunity. Much was expected from da Silva but he turned out to be a major disappointment.

Later, Roberto Mendes Silva created some chances for Dempo but the lack of support from the frontline wasted his efforts.

JCT ended the first half, a bit dejected, when a corner from man-of-the-match Marcos Pereira from the right-flag was flicked towards the goal by Baldeep Singh, but a Dempo defender made a goal-line save.

There were hardly any moves in the second half as the two teams seemed happy with sharing the points.

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