Braving rain and soggy conditions in the opener of the 122nd Durand Cup Quarter-Final League match, Air India registered a convincing 3-0 victory against Army XI.
The Airmen took the game away from the Army men right from the first whistle. After putting up a spirited performance in the IFA Shield, the Bimal Ghosh side couldn’t have asked a better result to their Durand Cup campaign.
Ravinder Singh scored a brace from the spot, while Nigerian Striker N.D. Opara notched in a close ranger for Air India.
The Air India could have scored an early goal through Opara but his header was off target after Ravinder Singh free-kick from the top of 18 yard box clipped the bar post.
N.D.Opara paved the way for the Air India opening goal when he was brought down in the box by K Poukillung resulting a penalty in favour of Air men. Left wing back Ravinder Singh made no mistake to put Air India in front placing his spot kick to the right of Army XI goal keeper Robi Kanta Singh.
Five minutes later the striker himself doubled Air India lead tapping in his left footer in to the near post of Dada Habeel cross from the right.
Army XI defence not only had tough time to get accustomed to the soggy condition but also failed to curtail both the Air India strikers, Dada Habeel and N.D.Opara. Air men hardly had any problem with the ground condition as they already had the taste of the same in the IFA Shield matches.
Army XI right wing back K Poukillung was again in the pick of action when his foul on Praneel Mendon inside the penalty box that gave another chance for Ravinder Singh to score from the spot in 34th min.
On the other hand Army XI defence was in sixes and sevens at times and were pushed back to wall situation right from the word go.Despite of couple of some raw attempts by the Army XI there wasn’t any productive moves from the 2005 Durand Cup winner either in both the session.
Air India did slowed down their pace after Habeel was substituted at the stroke of first half but looked solid with Uttam Singh , Khaleemba Singh and Ravinder Singh at the back.
Air India mid-field too looked in good nick with Henry Gangte, Vijith Shetty and Soccor Velho while goal keeper Arnab Das Sharma was hardly tested under the bar.
Air India leads the point table in Group C with three points, while a point against two time I-League champion, Dempo SC in their next match on September 14 will brighten their chance to make it to the semi finals.
Source: Indianfootball.com
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Saturday 12 September 2009, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.