Sporting shoot down Assam Rifles

The two wingers 8212; Surojit Roy on the left and Asim Das on the right 8212; were the main trouble-makers for the Rifles8217; defence, making purposeful, fast runs on both the flanks.

In the 11th minute, Roy, after one such good run, found himself in with a good chance, but his attempt from the centre of the penalty area was blocked. The rebound, however, fell to Raman Vijayan who slotted home from near the goalmouth.

Fifteen minutes later Roy sent a cross from near the boundary into the box, and Harbinder leaped in the air and slammed a header into the netting. The double-blow froze Rifles in their tracks in the increasingly chilly Delhi evening air.

Rifles8217; Akum Ao, playing forward today, was unable to make any headway in the absence of support from his midfield.

The second half was brighter for the Assam team, with several good chances. In the 65th minute they had a great chance to pull one back when Akum8217;s shot from an acute angle on the right hit the far pole. Ajit Singh, standing close, missed one he shouldn8217;t have.

That chance fluffed, it was clear it was not their day. In the 84th minute, Sporting8217;s Bijen Singh ran through, dodging the defence, with only the keeper to beat. But he couldn8217;t even shoot, raising groans from the largely Sporting fan-base in the stands.

However, a two-goal margin was good enough to get them the first win in the tournament.

The coach, though, was still not smiling. Again he refused to be quoted, his behaviour reminiscent of his haughty East Bengal days.

Assam Rifles coach Santanu Basu said: 8220;The right block of the back four failed to contain the attacks as they were supposed to. Also, losing to Mohammedan Sporting is never really a slur on our reputation. We have never played this Kolkata outfit before so we had problems adjusting.8221;

In the day8217;s first match, the youngsters from Tata Football Academy, showed even more spark than in their game yesterday, but once again, were shut off by a more experienced, mature team 8212; BSF.

The strike by Sarabjit in the 31st minute, following a flag kick was enough to give the men from Punjab their first win in the round. TFA8217;s Branco Cardozo promised a lot, but was unable to finish.

So, this young lot from the Jamshedpur academy goes out, having impressed everyone, but clearly in need of a bit more work before they turn out for the bigger clubs.