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Dempo Sports Club is champion

Special Correspondent

Pips Churchill Brothers on superior goal average

— Photo: S. Ramesh Kurup

A HAPPY BUNCH: The Dempo Sports Club team, which won the ONGC I-League Championship at Kozhikode on Saturday.

KOZHIKODE: Dempo Sports Club confirmed its position at the top of the inaugural ONGC I-League with an effortless 4-1 win over already demoted Viva Kerala at the Corporation Stadium here on Saturday.

The Goan side, which started the day with a slight advantage over arch-rival Churchill Brothers on account of its superior goal average, was never in trouble at any stage of the final encounter as it mowed down the challenge from the Kerala outfit quite spiritedly and emerged champion of the tough home-and-away league.

On the other hand, Viva looked once again a disjointed side as it was forced to play second fiddle to its rival all through the match, even when the Goans seemed happy to just hold control over the midfield during the first 25 minutes of play. A bit of aggression from the Kochi side could have undoubtedly enlivened the proceedings.

Equally culpable

But then, the Goans were equally culpable if the match proceeded on a monotonous fashion before its striker Chidi Edeh with a solo effort helped Dempo into the lead. Left free with possession in the left flank, Edeh simply ran clear of a slightly advanced rival defence before drawing the Viva custodian P.G. Purushothaman out of his citadel and cleverly planting the ball into the goal.

This 27th-minute effort was quickly followed by a second goal, again in favour of Dempo, exactly a couple of minutes later when skipper Ranty Martins made no mistake of a penalty awarded to his side after Purushothaman tripped a fast moving Nicolav Borges well within the dreaded area.

Much against the run of play, Viva finally shook off its lethargic approach and reduced the margin when S. Saleel found the net in favour of the Kochi side off a flag-kick converted by Bimal Birua. The Goans, however, retaliated well with a third goal before the break when Edeh again displayed fine opportunism as he moved well into the box to connect a curling throw-in from Sameer Naik in the left.

Slow pace

The flurry of goals, four to be precise, well within 17 minutes, promised much as the match got restarted after the break. But then, the pace was much below the expected level right through the final session and the proceedings were altogether quite flat even as the Goans scored once more to complete the rout.

The fourth Dempo goal was scored by Roberto Silva who took control off a flag-kick from Johnny D’cruz in style and pasted the ball into the Viva net with a thundering right-footer.

In the final count, Dempo finished its engagements with 36 points, the same collected by Churchill Brothers, but what still helped it to the title was the superior four-goal average which it held against its arch-rival.

Obviously, the Dempo coach, Armando Colaco was quite ecstatic on his side’s triumph. “Dempo is climbing and this is indeed a great win, contributed duly by the team effort of my players and other coaching staff. I do agree that Indian football still has a long way to go as nothing much has changed in the game here between this year’s league and the NFL of last year which again we had won. Three titles (counting our first win, which undoubtedly remains special) through four seasons has, however, helped Dempo to stamp its class as the best domestic club in our country. It is true that we did face several hurdles along the way, but we never lost focus and that is why we could emerge as the champion.”

The final standings: Dempo SC: 18-10-6-2-35-13-36 (+22); Churchill Brothers: 18-11-3-4-40-22-36 (+18); JCT: 18-9-6-3-31-14-33 (+17); Mohun Bagan: 18-8-6-4-22-17-30 (+5); Mahindra United: 18-7-7-4-24-18-28 (+6); East Bengal: 18-5-4-9-17-23-19 (-6); Sporting Club de Goa: 18-4-7-7-14-24-19 (-10); Air India: 18-3-8-7-10-20-17 (-10); Viva Kerala: 18-3-3-12-13-38-12 (-25); Salgaocar: 18-1-8-9-20-37-11 (-17).

Note: Read as played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against and points. The figures given in parenthesis is the goal difference of each of the teams.

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