The Hindu : Sport / Football : J&K routs Delhi, enters last eight

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 02, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Football

J&K routs Delhi, enters last eight

Amitabha Das Sharma

SRINAGAR: Inspired by livewire striker Ishfaq Ahmed, host Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) thrashed Delhi 4-0 on its way to the quarterfinals of the 62nd National football championship for the Santosh Trophy at the Polo Ground here on Sunday.

In the absence of two of its key players — injured defender Arun Malhotra and National camper Mehrajuddin Wadoo — J&K was provided the thrust by Ishfaq.

The diminutive striker, who earned praise playing for his club Mohun Bagan against Germany’s Bayern Munich four days ago, proved his capability as striker yet again. He set the tone of the encounter opening the scoring as early as in the ninth minute.

Delhi, meanwhile, seemed to be focussing too much on defence. J&K clearly showed better technique, which seemed to have been sharpened under new coach Biswajit Bhattacharya.

J&K went 2-0 up in the 35th minute as Mohammad Asif capitalised on a miscued kick by opposition goalkeeper Rajat Guha.

Delhi goalie hurt

The Delhi custodian seemed to have not recovered from a kick he took from Ahmed while going for a daring charge in the 25th minute. Guha stuck to his post despite Delhi coach Tarun Roy asking him to be substituted.

Guha had to be eventually rushed to hospital as he complained of dizziness and was taken off in the 39th minute.

The change of ends did not alter the tenor of the action as the home side continued to dominate.

Lack of options

Delhi, which suffered from a lack of attacking options, tried to tidy its midfield introducing Amit Sharma for an off-colour Pushpinder Kundu, in the 57th minute.

Sharma paired well with his captain Irfan Khan, thereby improving the distributions upfront. But Delhi could not do much in the striking zone despite getting a few good chances midway through the second session.

While Delhi saw its efforts going in vain, J&K increased its goal count with Ahmed getting his second and the team’s third in the 86th minute.

Midfielder Sheikh Rizwan completed the rout scoring in the 88th minute.

On Monday the remaining pre-quarterfinal matches, including the Tamil Nadu-Services match scheduled to be played at Jammu on Sunday, will be played.

In the other matches at Srinagar, Karnataka plays Haryana and Railways meets Goa.

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

Sport