I-T raid RCF into submission

JUNE 15: Striker Rajesh Pendurkar's solo goal in the opening minute after the breather sealed a win for Income-Tax I-T against Rashtriya C...

JUNE 15: Striker Rajesh Pendurkar8217;s solo goal in the opening minute after the breather sealed a win for Income-Tax I-T against Rashtriya Chemicals Fertiliser RCF in the Gulf Lubricants WIFA Super Division League tie at the Cooperage today.

Pendurkar covered 30 yards and out-paced RCF8217;s defender Hassan El Fowad to unleash a grounder in the right corner of the goalpost. The young striker also had couple of good solos in the first half but failed to find his fellow strikers in the RCF territory.

RCF shot into lead, early in the third minute of the match when I-T custodian Pramod Shreedharan misjudged the flight of the ball. And medio Deepak Kedare8217;s curling corner-kick put RCF ahead.

PK Rameshan, the speedy striker of I-T equalised for the taxmen in the 34th minute with a header. A high lob from Camilo Naronha was set at the RCF8217;s goalmouth but their seasoned custodian Suhas Patil was slow to react. Rameshan connected the ball before Patil could even advance. And the ball went in the emptygoal.

Despite controlling the first 20 minutes of the match, RCF failed to capitalise on opportunities came their way. Most of their moves were checked near the 20-yard line. A new pair of medios were introduced by Bhaskar Maity, the RCF coach. Defender Balin Singh was performing the job of distribution and create openings. New recruit Pahari Singh was assigned to check the I-T left-winger Neil D8217;Costa8217;s movements in which he was successful to some extent. D8217;Costa could not render assistance to the forward line. RCF strikers Zahid Raza and Abhishek Yadav, who showed a lot of promise in earlier matches, were off target today. They could not keep their shots in the wood work. And most of the times, both the strikers were waiting for the ball rather than going for it.

The heavy ball was running slow because of the wet ground and RCF team failed to adjust their game plan. RCF8217;s striker Shyamal Ghosh was guilty of wasting most of the chances coming his way. In the 56th minute, medio Kedare stretched thedefence to the right and send a powerful low cross. Ghosh headed straight in the hands of Shreedhara when he had sufficient time to place it anywhere in the goal.

Another move in the 85th minute could have guided RCF to win a point. Medio Balin8217;s cross from left found substitute Govindan Sajju.

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And with the first touch, Sajju set the ball for Raza whose strike from ten yards was a practice ball for Shreedharan, I-T custodian. He collected the ball without any panic. I-T defenders played with understanding and did not reveal any panic while their opponents, a seasoned side of the Super Division were threatening their goal.

In the dying minutes, Pendurkar surprised the rival defence by latching on to a pass and hand over the surprise loss to RCF.