The Hindu : Sport / Football : Roy, Tayo give Air India a lift

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Roy, Tayo give Air India a lift

Special Correspondent

Michael Tayo scores a terrific goal
Air India now tallies five points

Mumbai: Nigerian Michael Tayo gave the faithful at the Cooperage moments of joy and an opportunity to roar in approval as he scored a terrific goal for Air India 12 minutes from time in the ONGC I-League football tournament and helped it beat Kingfisher East Bengal 2-0.

Surojit Roy had scored the first goal, two minutes into the second half.

Tayo demonstrated the skill, expertise and common sense to deal the deadly blow his colleague Soccor Velho had lacked when he had at least more than a couple of opportunities earlier. Once in control of the ball, a metre or two outside the penalty box, he unleashed a shot that took the defenders off guard and beat goalkeeper Subrata Paul hands down.

Sunday’s win took Air India’s tally to five points, having split points against Mohammedan Sporting and Mohun Bagan in matches played at Kolkata.

A steady process

The local team’s comfortable win was as a result of a steady process it followed to take control of the match in hot and humid conditions.

Initially, it was Air India goalkeeper Arup Debnath who appeared to be under stress when a powerful shot from Ashim Biswas demanded utmost concentration.

Immediately after that he had to bring off a fine save to keep out a Praveen Kumar header off a corner. For the first ten minutes, the Kolkata side appeared to enjoy an edge.

After warding off early threats, Air India almost succeeded mid-way through the first session with quite a few attempts; Chulwuma Udofia’s mighty hit sailed over the cross bar seconds before half time.

Once Surojit Roy made a run on the left, beating defenders Suley Musah and Khelemba Singh and finally goalkeeper Subrata Paul to put Air India 1-0 in the 48th minute, the contest fizzled out.

Air India made sure that it had men in the deep defence leaving striker, skipper and the languid Emmanuel Ovieghara to make the most of it upfront, but eventually it was Tayo who brought cheer to his teammates and the spectators with a fine shot.

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