The Hindu : Sport / Football : Njoh nets winner

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 21, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Football

Njoh nets winner

CHENNAI: Former champion Indian Bank strengthened its hold on the Chennai Football Association Senior Division league title with a solitary goal win over Arrow’s FC at the Nehru Stadium here on Wednesday.

Playing in their penultimate match, both the teams were keen to put their best foot forward, and the pressure told on them. The first session was littered with missed opportunities and poor co-ordination.

Barring a few close shaves — Indian Bank’s Ramesh’s long-ranger ricocheted after hitting the left post and Arrow’s Raj Mohan’s brilliant drive off a free kick was pushed away by goalkeeper Felix Edward — the first 40 minutes didn’t offer much in terms of thrill and excitement.

Feeble shot

Fourteen minutes into the second half, IB found the target through the Cameroon import Mbanyam Stephen Njoh. A through ball from the centre by M. Karthikeyan found Njoh and his feeble left shot went straight through the legs of goalkeeper Kandasamy.

Indian Bank has 20 points from 10 matches and its last match against Integral Coach Factory (15 points) on February 23 (Saturday) will be vital. A win and IB lifts the Trophy.

On the other hand, if ICF wins its remaining two matches — against IB and Madras Sporting Union — the trophy could well be its. Arrow’s tally stood at 17 with a match to go against Sports Authority of India.

The results: Senior Division: Indian Bank 1 (Mbanyam Stephen Njoh) bt Arrow’s FC 0; I division: DB-Annai Youth 1 (Sakthivel) drew with Central Excise 1 (Janakiraman).

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport