Biswas strikes for Tolly

Ashim Biswas scored a brace as Tollygunge Agragami got past a despirited Indian Bank 4-2 in a seventh National Football League outing here today. The locals, who stamped their authority from the outset with a cohesive display, took an early lead through Moses Owira before Biswas struck twice to make the scoreline 3-0 at the break.

Nigerian import Akeem made the scoreline 4-0 in the 67th minute before the visitors reduced the margin through veteran striker Sabbir Pasha and Basheer Ahmed in the 73rd minute and 87th minute, respectively, at the Salt Lake Stadium. With this, Tollygunge improved their tally to 17 points from 13 matches while the bankmen, conceding five consecutive losses, remained at 11 points from 13 outings. Moses, who had scored twice against ITI, broke the ice for the hosts with a 25-yarder that rammed into the net past a helpless Bank goalkeeper in the 18th minute. Three minutes later, Biswas got a ball from a Amitabha Chanda freekick and fired a power packed right footer from top of the box that swung into the goal.

The talented youngster, who has been delivering the goods upfront on regular basis, scored his second in the 34th minute with a long ranger from 30 yards that stunned the entire rival defence giving no chance to Bank custodian Sebastian Netto.

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Indian Bank came close to scoring only on two occasions in the opening half but were thwarted by a brilliant save by Tollygunge keeper Arindam Ghosh and a goaline clearance by Sandip Das.

Salgaocar hold Vasco

Salgaocar Sports Club and Vasco Sports Club played out a goalless draw and shared points at the Nehru Stadium here today.

It was a tale of missed chances for both the teams in both the halves, but Salgaocar had an edge and could won outright had they utilised the chances before them, especially in the second half. In the first leg, Vasco had defeated Salgaocar 1-0.

With this draw, Salgaocar took their tally to 24 points below table-toppers East Bengal with 30 points, while Vasco remained on the same third spot with 23 points from equal number of outings.