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Wisdom stars in Viva Kerala’s win

Principal Correspondent

KOZHIKODE: Five goals inside the last 38 minutes. And a victory for the home team to boot.

There was indeed plenty to cheer about for the sparse crowd at the Corporation Stadium here on Thursday, as Viva Kerala beat Air-India 3-2 to register a much-needed win in the ONGC I-League. It marked the end of a three-match losing streak for the young Kochi-based team.

It was Viva’s first win after beating Salgaocar here nearly a month ago. Since then it had drawn with Sporting Clube de Goa and lost to Churchill Brothers, JCT and Dempo.

Two goals

Wisdom Abbey once again did the bulk of the scoring for Viva. The Ghanaian striker struck twice to take his tally to five goals in the league. Viva’s other goal was a beauty scored by skipper Khelemba Singh.

For Air-India, which twice managed to equalise, the goals came through African imports Bashiree Mohammed Abbas and Suley Musah.

Badly placed

The loss has made the Mumbai-based team’s chances of survival in the league even more difficult. It now has eight points from 10 matches and is placed ninth among the 10 teams. Viva with 12 points remains in the seventh place.

The first half produced no goals and little excitement. But the second half not only saw five goals but also many chances for both the teams.

Viva went ahead in the 52nd minute, with Wisdom heading home C.S. Saleel’s neat cross. Three minutes later, Bashiree made it 1-1 as he made no mistake off a rebound off the bar, following a failed attempt by Paresh Shivalkar.

Long ranger

Viva regained the lead in the 63rd minute through a scorching 40-yard free-kick by Khelemba, later named the Man of the Match. It ought to be one of the most remarkable goals of the I-League this season.

Air-India equalised in the 68th minute when Suley headed in a corner kick taken by Nirmal Chettri.

Then, with seven minutes left for the final whistle, Wisdom scored the winner off a counter-attack which he engineered along with Baba Tunde, the Nigerian striker who had a good game.

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