A-I start on winning note

A-I defender Subir Sinha back passed to Yousaf who manage to receive the high ball on his head. His header went back directly to Periera whose right foot grounder went to the right of Yousaf.

After 1-0 down, Air-India brought in medio Godfrey Periera which provided the variation in their mid-field.

Three minutes into second-half, medio Dennis George’s volley found the net. The move was initiated by Anthony Fernandes who pushed a forward pass to Godfrey on the left. The former international’s cross found George on the goal-mouth and he thumped in an eqauliser.

In the 63th minute, A-I took lead through Abbas Ali Rizvi. A good understanding among the A-I’s mid-fieldersstarted the attack from right-flank as international Khalid Jamil sent a through pass on the right flank to overlapping defender Henry Picardo. Jamil missed the header on Picardo’s cross but the other medio, George’s header was blocked by UBI goalkeeper Nadeem Ansari. But Rizvi, standing close by, slotted home.

The third goal, scored by Jamil, was the best of the day. It was sheer example of composure and anticipation as the former Mahindras player chased a back pass from a UBI defender. Nadeem could not control the ball properly and his clearance hit Jamil’s back. The ball ballooned in the air and Jamil backvolleyed it in for a spectacular finish.

A-I could have won the match with a bigger margin as their strikers were guilty of missing some easy scoring chances. A-I didn’t have luck either as the ball found the bar and post on more than four occasion.

After a series of misses in the first 20 minutes, Jamil found Anthony unmarked on the right flank. Anthony side-stepped two defenders with body movementand dispatched a powerful left-footer which hit the bar. The rebound came back to the nippy Ratan Singh. The former RCF player tried a volley it but the ball flew over.

A minute before UBI scored the first goal, Ratan intercepted a wrong pass and found himself one-to-one against the goalkeeper. His meaty show forced Nadeem to dive to his left. He spilled the ball and it rolled to Rizvi, who came bounding in and ball into the post.

Two minute before the breather, Rizvi’s had a good solo run but George hit the cross out. A minute later, A-I captian Khambiton Singh’s cross from the right found George, whose header hit the bar.

Bimal Ghosh, A-I coach said,“We wasted a lot of chances in the first-half and conceded a silly goal. We played better in the later half and goal scored by Jamil was of world class.”

UBI suffered a serious blow when striker Ryan D’Souza got injured in a clash with A-I goalkeeper Yousaf. UBI played better in the first-half as in the later-half A-I medio’s were using the maximumwidth of the ground.