Rawal’s double strike nails JCT

Mahindras outplayed JCT in almost every aspect of the game. Though JCT could not boast of the same line-up which won them the National League title, coach Sukhwinder Singh wanted to prove that they had lost none of their bite.

But the Mahindras forwards proved him wrong by scoring three goals. They toyed with JCT defence time and again. Sanjay Rawal hammered the first nail with a goal in the 27th minute, when he pounced on a a ball which rebounded off JCT goalkeeper Arvind Kumar.

Mahindras maintained their lone goal lead in the first half and in the second half, Rawal increased the lead in the 47th minute after Hardip put him through.

The second goal forced JCT to change their game plan, and began concentrating on the long ball. Their efforts bore fruit and in the 76th minute, when a Jasbir Singh’s header, off a pass from Moosa went into the goal after hitting a diving Gumpe Rime’s hand.

JCT maintained the pressure and in the 82nd minute, equalised when Emeka headed the ball in, again off a cross from Moosa.

The moment of relief was very brief for the Phagwara side as two minutes later, Khalid Jameel intercepted a pass from Abhay Kumar inside the box and banged in the winner in the 84th minute.

As the clock ticked away JCT almost equalised in the dying minutes when Emeka’s left-footer off a Saki cross sailed dangerously close.

JOLT FOR FC KOCHIN: Later in the evening, PSEB shocked FC Kochin with an early blow in the third minute through a strong left-footer by Sukhbir Singh, who beat goalkeeper KV Dinesh, standing in for an injured Sumit Mukherjea. Fresh from the victory in Durand Cup, India’s first professional side took the goal in stride knowing that getting an equaliser was not a big task for them.

Coming back to attack, Firoze, playing in the defence instead of his normal mid-field position, and Friday Elaiho tried to score since Vijayans — both IM and Raman — were tightly marked.After putting the Punjab side constant pressure, Firoze collected a rebound that came in the 11th minute after the PSEB defenders failed to clear Friday’s shot and tapped it past the PSEB custodian Jatinder Singh for the equaliser.

But the Kerala side has been hit by injuries and were struggling to put 12 players together. With their captain IM Vijayan also joining the long injury list with a groin problem, they did not want to exert much.

Ball boy beatenFC KOCHIN’s ball boy Rehman was allegedly beaten up by JCT player Aliu Moosa. According to the club’s general secretary, Babu Mather, Moosa punched the ball boy after the latter refused to give him the keys to the dressing room, which was earlier used by JCT and was given to Kochin for the second match. No JCT official was available for comments. Kochin have lodged an official complaint with the tournament referee.