New Delhi, Oct 5: Five-times champion JCT Mills Phagwara commenced their Durand Cup campaign on a victorious note. They registered a 2-0 victory over the Bangladesh Armed Forces, the only foreign team in the fray, in a Group A quarter-final league encounter at the Ambedkar Stadium today.In another Group A clash, former champion Mohun Bagan defeated Army XI 2-1.A key moment of the match was in the 34th minute when JCT's main striker Emeka Achilefu was tackled hard by BAF's Asgar inside the box. Referee Michael Andrews immediately awarded a penalty to JCT, while flashing the yellow card to Asgar. But strangely, Andrews backtracked and cancelled the penalty award when lineman S Bhattacharya intervened and Emeka also got an yellow card.After the barren first half, Emeka wrested the advantage for JCT. The opener came in the 66th minute, when speedy Jaspreet, substituting for Jasbir, moved from the right flank and crossed to a waiting Emeka. The Nigerian's first attempt was blocked by defender Hamid but Emeka made no mistake on the rebound.Emeka displayed his sense of opportunism again in the 78th minute when he slammed home a low grounder, off a Ram Pal cross.In the other match, The first strike came from Bagan's Cheema Okerie, via a penalty in the 27th minute. Minutes later, Army XI struck back through striker Lalmachuana, who put his team on par off a flag-kick taken by skipper Pushkar Singh. An alert Lalma got the ball on rebound from the custodian Mukherjee. The winner came in the 66th minute when Biswas nodded in a cross from Khalique on the left.
