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Played
February 5, 2012 3:30 PM IST
February 5, 2012 3:30 PM IST
Air India 2-1 HAL Bangalore: The Airmen edge past the Bangalore based side
K. Muralidharan's side continue to languish at the bottom of the table, as they come away with nothing from their clash against Air India in Pune.....
By Ayush Srivastava
AIFF
Air India held of a late comeback by HAL Bangalore to win 2-1 in an I-League round 19 encounter at the Balewadi sports complex in Pune on Sunday.
Goals from Ezeh Henry and Sandeep Sangha in the first half put the Airmen in a commanding position before J. Hamza scored, what turned out to be a consolation goal in the 86th minute.
Both the teams went for it right from the off, as they traded chances one after another in a fast paced encounter.
HAL came out all guns blazing in the second half, as M. Meetei in particular, creating a lot of problems for Air India’s defence to contend with.
He almost halved the deficit, but Lamine Tamba made a brilliant goal-line clearance, although the away side felt it had crossed the line, but the referee waved away their protests.
Goals from Ezeh Henry and Sandeep Sangha in the first half put the Airmen in a commanding position before J. Hamza scored, what turned out to be a consolation goal in the 86th minute.
Both the teams went for it right from the off, as they traded chances one after another in a fast paced encounter.
Bijoy Basfore should have given the lead to the hosts, when a Manjit Singh cross from the left found him in the box, but Basfore failed to find the back of the net.
Eventually the Airmen took the lead in the 38th minute, when a freekick into the box was unconvincingly punched by P. Pramod right into a melee. Basfore collected the ball and crossed it towards Henry, who connected well with the ball and headed Santosh Kashyap’s side into the lead.
Air India’s second goal came out of the blue, when Sandeep Sangha found the back of the net when his cross, which was intended for Henry Ezeh, evaded everyone including the hapless Pramod in goal and hit the top of the bar before nestling into the net in the 46th minute.
That proved to be the last chance of note in the first half, as the hosts went into the break fully in control of the tie.HAL came out all guns blazing in the second half, as M. Meetei in particular, creating a lot of problems for Air India’s defence to contend with.
He almost halved the deficit, but Lamine Tamba made a brilliant goal-line clearance, although the away side felt it had crossed the line, but the referee waved away their protests.
Meetei though, did help set up the Bangalore based side’s goal, when he moved in from the left and found Hamza on the right, who turned and slotted the ball past Pawan Kumar.
The win takes Air India to 27 points and the club are now 9th in the league, while HAL stay on six points and it would need a miracle for the Bangalore based side to now avoid relegation.How do you stay up to date with football when on the move? With http://m.goal.com – your best source for mobile coverage of the beautiful game.
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Yellow Card
Assist
Penalty Save
Penalty Shootout Goal
Penalty Shootout Miss
Yellow Card / Red Card
Red Card
Substitution IN
Substitution OUT
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Goal.com Man of the Match
Goal.com Flop of the Match
Top & Flop Global Ranking
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Results
Times In IST
Top Scorers
| Player | Goals | Penalties | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Martins Ranti Soleye
Striker Dempo SC |
32 | 5 |
|
Odafa Onyeka Okolie
Striker Mohun Bagan |
26 | 5 |
|
Tolgay Ozbey
Striker East Bengal |
18 | 1 |
|
James Moga
Striker SC Goa |
16 | 0 |
|
Mandjou Keita
Striker Pune FC |
15 | 3 |