Convincing victory for BMFC

The team from Mumbai dominated throughout as the scoreline indicates, and rarely allowed their opponents to settle down. Even then, Railway did manage to make a couple of moves in the first half through Surajit Karmakar and Swapan Dey.

BMFC might well have taken lead within seconds of kick-off. However, Abdul Khaleque8217;s 20-yard right-footer hit the far post. Although that might have been disappointing, BMFC did not let that miss affect their game and earned the first goal in the ninth minute. A faulty clearance by Railway defender Pijush Nandy found Herbert Philips with the ball. He headed it to Seriki in the box, who had little trouble in scoring. Ten minutes later, Railway missed the equaliser when a Swapan Dey lob bounced on the BMFC cross-piece before going out.

A spot-kick helped BMFC score the second goal after Seriki was brought down inside the Railway box by Ranjit Sen in the 34th minute. Emeka Achilefu converted with a calm head. Seriki was again in the spotlight just two minutes after the break when he rose to head in a Kasif Jamal flag-kick.

Although he appeared to push Railway goalkeeper Sandipan Moitra, the referee did not consider that an infringement and awarded BMFC their third goal. Khaleque then got into the act 10 minutes later. In one of the cleanest moves, Uday Konar ran away with the ball towards the right flag-post before centring into the Railway box. Khaleque came in very fast and neatly deflected it past the goalkeeper. It was 4-0 and BMFC coach Jamshed Nassiri had a broad grin.

Railway managed to reduce the margin with a surprise goal in the 64th minute. Swapan Dey caught a loose ball and banged it past a stunned Gumpe Rime from 20 yards. That goal came out of the blue, but did little to boost the Railway morale.

Khaleque added another for BMFC in the 77th minute after Manjinder Singh intercepted a weak clearance. The defender crossed towards Khaleque inside the box, and the forward tapped it past the goalkeeper.