MUMBAI, SEPT 7: The last time Manjit Singh scored two goals was when Mahindras routed Central Railway. Today again he scored two and Mahindra coach SS Hakim could not thank him enough.It was the first match for Mahindras in the super five and they got off to a great start against a sticky opponent - RCF.In fact with more than 50 minutes into the match, Mahindras had got just one opportunity.The first goal came in the 54th minute with a typically opportunistic goal. From a flag kick, Bernard headed it to Abbas Ali Rizvi who slammed it towards the goal. Manjit stuck out his foot and deflected it in.This goal opened up the RCF defence as they went in search for goals and left their backyard open. Mahindras punished them with two more goals.For the entire first half RCF looked the better side. They had crowded their defence and threw forward only one striker - Jaideep Singh Dhaka. If Balin Singh had a great game as the central defender then Dhaka, who had two back-to-back chances, could have sealed up the game for his team.Instead, Dhaka missed chance - Douglas D'Sena's diagonal ball from the middle caught the Mahindras moving forward. Dhaka had oceans of space in the penalty box and he shot. But Virender Singh blocked with his foot. The rebound came to Dhaka and he shot again. By then Bernard had stationed himself on the goalline and blocked Dhaka's shot again.If Dhaka was the culprit, then Balin became a victim of a nervous defence.Left-winger Khalid Siddique's low cross beat RCF goalkeeper Suhas Patil but Balin was present as ever. But the ball did not behave to his control and was rolling towards the goal when Nitin Pradhan, who had come in as substitute just then, slid in from nowhere and scored Mahindras's second goal.By then Mahindras had gained control and a couple of flag kicks gained by by Mahindras after 80 minutes on the game clock proved dangerous. From the first award, left-back Naushad Moosa headed in powerfully but Patil stuck out his hand and deflected it out. Off the following corner, Manjit headed in; this time Patil's hands stayed down.Manjit could have another goal to his name but a great save from Patil denied him that. Christopher's low cross was neatly deflected in and the seemingly beaten Patil had to jump backwards to stop the ball from entering the goal. Mahindras protested briefly beileving that the ball had crossed the line.In the earlier Super Division match, Union Bank held Central Bank 1-1. Melwyn Vaz scored for CBI while Supreet Jatana equalised for UBI.OTHER RESULTSDivision I: Reserve Bank 1 (Dolfred) bt OLPS 0; Div II: Taj Air 1 (P Thapa) bt RCF 0; Div III: HCI 0 drew with LIC 0.
