The Hindu : Sport / Football : Vengadesan takes SAI to safety

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Vengadesan takes SAI to safety

CHENNAI: Sports Authority of India (SAI) moved out of the relegation zone following a 1-0 defeat of Nethaji SC in the St. Joseph's-Chennai Football Association senior division league here on Tuesday.

A dour first half in which neither team showed enough initiative was followed by an open second period that saw SAI open the scoring in the 55th minute.

The winner

Left winger R. Satish Kumar (adjudged the man-of-the-match) whirled a long throw into the box, which was headed on at the near post by D. Ganesh and finished with ease by K. Vengadesan.

Buoyed by the goal, SAI surged forward and should have doubled its advantage in the 74t {+h} minute. Satish, who had latched on to a long free kick from Neil Dominic Jude Destardins, lobbed the ball over the onrushing goalkeeper but wide of the post.

With Nethaji pressing for an equaliser, SAI had plenty of chances to consolidate its advantage, but its finishing was profligate. One such occasion saw S. Rajarajan skew his shot wide after a fine cross from Vengadesan.

The missed opportunities though did not cost SAI as Nethaji failed to breach its commanding backline.

SAI and Nethaji are now tied on 8 points from 10 games, 2 ahead of AGORC and 5 ahead of Central Excise, who have both played a game less.

Easy for RBI

Earlier in the first division, RBI defeated Chennai Port Trust 3-0 thanks to goals from Kannan, V. Devanathan and M. Mathivanan.

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