C Rly’s brilliance blinds Fr Agnel

Central had hardly rested their oars when Fr Agnel’s Rego Menezes and Cyril Bernard were concerned in a fine passing bout down the middle, before Cyril passed to Anwar Ahmed who had only to tap the ball in from handshaking distance to make it 2-2 in the 63rd minute. Anwar was, however, guilty of missing four grand chances earlier in the game.

Just when it seemed that the tie-breaker would follow, the railwaymen came up with the match-winner a minute from the end. Inside-left Jamsher Khan neatly trapped and scored with a knee-high shot to the far side of the goal, following a hard hit from the middle by Shamim Baig. Central now meet seeded Air-India in the quarter-finals.

In the earlier game, Sports Authority of India drubbed Maharashtra State Police 3-0 after a slender 1-0 lead at the breather. SAI now take on Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers in the pre-quarter-finals.

MS Police captain and defender Salim Mohammed, who was sent off, was suspended for six months for using abusive language against umpire Hardeep Singh.

SAI took the lead in the 13th minute after Rajeev Bhatkar beat MSP goalkeeper Prakash Nainirgane with a power-packed shot, following a neat square pass by team-mate Gurmeet Rao.

In the 37th minute, Mohammed Shams and Prem Kumar combined to a nicety in the middle before the latter found Gurmeet Rao in the circle. Gurmeet turned and unleashed a stiff shot that left goalkeeper Nainirgane standing.

Gurmeet had a hand in the third SAI goal, too. He neatly flicked the ball back to unmarked Brijesh Chaudhary who made no mistake.