20081011

JCT knocked out Mohammedan Sporting Club by 2-nil



LUDHIANA: The home ground proved lucky for the host JCT as they knocked out Mohammedan Sporting Club 2-nil in their third 13th ONGC I- league encounter played at Guru Nanak Stadium here today.
The JCT, retained their supremacy and added three points in their kitty. With today's wind they have earned a total of seven points in three matches.

The visitors Mohammedan Sporting, who were struggling at 10 place in the I- league continued to suffer another humiliating defeat at the hands of the host JCT.
Even the former JCT midfielder Adebayo A. Tokunbo, who shifted his loyalties to the Bangla club remained harmless.
However, the JCT was not playing with the best of their abilities.
The absence of star strikers like Sunil Chhetri and Praveen Kumar was conspicuous as the Brazalian find Edurado Da Silva was left alone in the striking zone, searching for partners.
However, both the teams made forays in the rival territory and made few attempts to score a goal in the first quarter.
A curling kick by Sporting striker Gurpreet Singh was timely saved by the JCT Goal Keeper Karanjit Singh in the 25th minute.
The controversial penalty appeal by the Sporting team, few second after was putdown by the referee.
The deadlock came to an end in the added 46th minute of the game, when flyer by Balwant Singh from the defense missed Edurado Da Silva and caught the right foot of Baljit Sahni, who incidentally found himself in front of the goal post.
He had no problems to glide the ball into the nets. The JCT team registered a 1-0 lead by the end of the first half.
The JCT, players displayed an organized game in the second half after receiving a thrashing from their coach Sukhwinder, who was visibly upset with the lackluster performance of JCT lad at the end of the first half.
As the entire JCT team was playing at the defense things were going bad to worse for the visitors.
Considering the time being wasted by the host, the visitors decided to go all out and attacked the host team.
Sporting midfielders Adebayo and Okoro made some brilliant moves but fail to convert it into a goal.
JCT goal keeper Karanjit Singh, made some breath taking save and foiled all the attempts made by the Sporting duo.

Sighting the opportunity in the weak Sporting defense, the Brazalian, Edurado Da Silva, who was simply magical in the second half and put the Bangla club in the tizzy, as five defender were not enough to stop him scoring a goal in the 68th minute.
After, conceding two goals the visitors made few more efforts to score a goal but their fragile kicks were simply not enough to rock the wall like defense of the JCT consisting Anwar, Julius Akpele and Daljit.