Depleted Pune hold ONGC

But that wasn’t the case as Gonsalves was a happy man. “I am very happy with the way the boys have performed,” said Gonsalves. But the reason for his satisfaction becomes clear when he describes who all constituted his team. “Five of our players are from the U-19 team. They have only played in the local Pune league. So to hold their own with the rest of the senior team players is a good thing,” he says.

Pune is playing with what is clearly a weakened team — they played without any of their foreign players and even coach Gonsalves is the assistant to Derrick Perriera — because the rest are in Pune preparing to play the Blackburn Rovers on the 7th of this month. Indeed,after the match against ONGC,seven players flew back to Pune for the match against Blackburn. They will then fly back to Delhi with their full strength squad ahead of their next match on the 10th against Air India.

Soon after the match ended,the minds of a few players had shifted attention to visions of glory against the visiting EPL side. “I am really excited about playing against Blackburn. I don’t know if I will actually get any playing time but it is still probably going to be one of the highlights of my career,” said 20-year-old Jeh Williamson,himself a recent graduate of the Pune FC academy and one of the players who will be returning to Pune in time for the match.

In their match against ONGC however,the make-shift Pune team performed admirably. They controlled much of the ball possession and it was probably due to the inexperience of their players up front — midfielder F Lalrempuia had only last year been adjudged the best player of the tournament in the school level Subroto Cup — that they failed to score more goals.

However,with the number of chances they created,it was only a matter of time before they got one through. That opportunity came in the 58th minute when striker Karma Tsewang got a through ball and volleyed powerfully on the run into the top-left corner of the goal. That goal should have been the decider but a lapse in their defences saw ONGC equalising in the 88th minute,when striker Kailash Patil deflected in by substitute C. Kenisten.

Md Sporting see off Army Red

In another match Mohammedan Sporting,playing their first Durand Football tournament after five years started their campaign with a 1-0 win over Army Red in a group 4 match. The match winner was scored by midfielder Tapan Maity in the third minute in what was their first attack of the match. Right midfielder Sohrabuddin Mullick sent a measured cross and striker Felix Chimaokwu flicked back to an on-rushing Maity who scored with a spectacular angular volley.

The narrow margin of victory however does not show the dominance with which Sporting played. They only have themselves to blame as they missed several chances from close range,one when the player had the goalkeeper beaten and only the goal to aim for. In the closing stages,striker Surojit Bose angled wide a low cross from the left by Maity. Minutes later substitute Korean midfielder Han Wook’s well angled free kick struck the right post and went wide.