Pailan Arrows 0-2 Dempo SC: A Ranti Martins brace allows Dempo to cement their place on top

Pailan Arrows, with a man down in the 34th minute, were defeated by Dempo SC by two second half scored by prolific striker, Ranti Martins Soleye in a round 20 I-League encounter at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata.

The Arrows started with George Alwyn upfront leaving club top scorer, CS Sabeeth on the bench. Rajiv Ghosh partnered Prathamesh Maulingkar in defense for the Arrows. Ranti Martins and Koko Sakibo led the attack for Dempo SC.

The first half kicked off dramatically with the referee handing out three bookings in the span of just three minutes. Although the Arrows certainly started the brighter of the two teams, the match was a stop start affair with missed passes galore.

George Alwyn looked lively for the Arrows upfront as he was always prepared to run at the Dempo defense. He started off the proceedings with a long range shot that was however saved comfortably by Subhasish Roy Chowdhury in the Dempo goal.

On the other side Ranti Martins found an unmarked Anthony Perreira in the box, but he could not keep his header on target. Pailan upped the tempo which led to Narzary taking two pot shots at goal, the second one fiercer of the two which Subhasish kept out after two touches.

It took Dempo 33 minutes for a proper build up as Koko danced down the left, and passed the ball to Ranti in the box, who held the ball up well before playing it on the right to a free Anthony Perreira, but Naveen Kumar was up to the task at hand as he kept out the fierce volley.

In the very next minute, it was disaster for Arrows as Naveen Kumar was given a straight red as he came out and challenged Koko Sakibo outside the box, when the latter was clean through on goal.

It was the team from Goa who had two chances to surge ahead playing with a man advantage. First it was a good save from substitute keeper, Shayan Roy who spotted Denzil Theobald's run from midfield, and then it was a mind boggling miss from Koko Sakibo who volleyed wide from point blank range after Rebello had measured out a perfect ball from the right. It was Theobald again who started the move, by threading a perfect ball down to the overlapping Dempo right back.

The second half began like the first, with a freekick being awarded in the very first minute after restart.

Then it was a chance for the AIFF developmental side, as Alwyn went on another of his mazy runs, brushing past two defenders, before being finally stopped outside the box by Cresson Antao. To his disbelief, the referee had waved play on.

Then out of nowhere, Ranti Martins got at the end of a Rebello cross from the right, after Shayan Roy could not gather the ball, and he made it 1-0 in the 53rd minute to break the deadlock.

Buoyed by the goal and playing with an extra man, the former I-League champions began to dominate the proceedings but created few clear cut chances. In fact Clifford Miranda, who had been booked in the first minute itself for lashing out at a player, was lucky not to pick up a second booking for a raised foot.

Ranti had another chance to increase the lead in the 66th minute as a ball was slid into his path by Miranda, but his final shot was tame and straight to Shayan Roy.

Pailan could have levelled the score in the 77th minute when Alwyn found himself free in the box, but his first touch let him down.

Martins put the match beyond all doubt when he ran unmarked in the 82nd minute and was wonderfully picked out by Anthony Perreira on the right. The striker made no mistake in slotting the ball in the net, past a diving Shayan Roy.

The second goal sealed the match for good, as Dempo looked to play for time, passing the ball around in midfield without really trying to string together any attack.

With the win, Dempo tighten their grip on top spot and open up a six point gap between them and second placed Mohun Bagan after 20 matches.

Meanwhile India's youth prospects find themselves unable to score yet again, as their goal drought continues.