Tags:
Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, February 26: It had been a long wait for Sukhdev Singh. The JCT Phagwara player finally found his name in the playing eleven in the Philips National Football League today when the side clashed with East Bengal at the Ambedkar Stadium, today. But this wasn8217;t the day he was looking forward to.
After a great performance for a major part of the match, his hard work went in vain when he handled the ball inside the box in the 77th minute to concede a penalty kick and gave East Bengal an opportunity to stamp their superiority over JCT.
Somatai Shaiza beat JCT goalkeeper Arvind Kumar to convert the penalty kick and help the Calcutta team jump to fourth place with 21 points from 12 matches. JCT, struggling to avoid relegation, remain at eighth spot with 16 points out of 14 outings.
Sukhdev has always been a substitute. But he had a great start in the League when the two goals of the three scored by JCT in the inaugural match against Churchill Brothers, were initiated by him. It was injuries to keyplayers today that helped him make the playing eleven.
East Bengal, finding JCT more defensive, started pushing them back and kept goalkeeper Arvind Kumar busy. The lanky Arvind did not disappoint his side and his performance won him the Man of the Match award. That was a minor consolation because he could help his side from sliding to defeat.
In the second half, JCT intensified the attack. But the side missed the services of strikers Stephan Abarowei out with two yellow cards and Abudullateef Seriki injured. Apart from these two, Rampal injured and Tarsem Lal, who lost his mother, were also missing from the line-up.
Bagan-e.Bengal tie rescheduled: The All-India Football Federation has decided to shift the match between Mohun Bagan and East Bengal back to its original venue, Calcutta. The match rescheduled for March 2 in Delhi, will now be played on March 4 in Calcutta.
The match, however, will not be telecast live on DD, as their OB vans are not free on the date due to election andpost-election assignments.
