Dadar humble Tipu Sultan

Slowly Dadar XI took control of the midfield. Medio and captain Francis Fernandes along with Dinesh Kanojia, Sylvester Dixon and Castudio Fernandes started keeping possession.

Strikers Divakaran, D’Souza and Anguin Luies showed understanding and anticipation which was missing in the Tipu’s forward line-up.

In the second-half, a number of scoring opportunities came their way but wayward shooting went against them.

In the 77th minute, Kamal put a forward pass to substitute Imran Ansari who failed to direct his powerpacked shot. The Imran-Kamalcombination worked well as they made some openings but lacked finishing.

Striker Deepak Divakaran drew the first blood for Dadar in the 33rd minute. From a free-kick that Tipu Sultan earned in their area, Sandesh Mohite, the goalkeeper, passed to defender Ansari Zahid. Zahid lack of concentration helped Divkaran, who was lurking nearby, get the ball and he thumped the ball into the empty net.

Five minutes later, D’Souza scored the second goal through his opportunitism. Divakaran passed two defenders and set up D’Souza, who calmly slotted the ball between two defenders.

In the 79th minute, substitute Nilesh Thakkar, who missed couple of scoring opportunities earlier, scored his first goal of the season as he nodded in D’Souza’s low cross.

In the dying minutes, Tipu Sultan pulled one back from a penalty. Striker Amin Ansari was brought down by Nilesh Chavan, the Dadar XI goalkeeper. Medio Taha Ansari converted from the spot.

In a first division match at Goan Sports Association Ground, Gulf Lubricantsdrubbed Dena Bank 6-1. Anmol Rai and Gopal Pal scored a brace each while Denis Rajamanikam and Suryakant Meher scored a goal each. Dyaton Sequiera reduced the margin for Dena Bank.

In a third Division match, Atlas SC drew 1-1 with Oberoi Towers. Chagan scored for the Atlas while Siddarth Mehra got one for Oberoi’s.

Cricket awards

As the cricket season draws to a close, five Indians maintain their standings for the rupees five lakh Castrol Indian Cricketer of the Year’ award.

After the end of the Independence Cup, the top five players on the points table are, (in alphabetical order): Mohd Azharuddin, Anil Kumble, Saurav Ganguly, Javagal Srinath and Sachin Tendulkar. The tournament and series remaining this season are the Commonwealth Games (ICC recognition awaited), the Sahara Cup in Toronto and the three One-day internationals on India’s tour of Zimbabwe.

BHA aid

The Bombay Hockey Association (BHA), moved by the plight of Mary Phillips, wife of former late Olympian Joe Phillips,today announced her a financial help of Rs 5000. Ms Mary was reported to be washing dishes and doing labour at residential houses in Pune to make two ends meet. Joe played in Berlin Olympics in 1936 where India won the hockey gold.