After a four-month break, the Bangalore District Football Association’s Super Division league resumed on Wednesday, with champions Hindustan Aeronautic Sports Club playing out a goalless draw against Postal Sports Club.
HASC’s National Football League engagements had brought the league to a halt back in March. The Aircraftmen had struggled to balance the local games and the NFL ties then, gaining just eight points from their four Super Division games.
Relegated
Subsequently, they finished at the bottom of the NFL table and were relegated to the second division but at the local level, they still have unfinished business, with a new coach in charge.
Manivannan, their former captain, took over from Krishnaji Rao a couple of weeks back, and his first task is to pilot his team through the remaining games of the Super Division successfully.
The job appears difficult though at the moment, and losing two points against a lowly Postal side was hardly an encouraging piece of news. The conditions were difficult, with heavy overnight rains making the turf slushy. Still, HASC were expected to brush Postal aside.
Missed chances
They had their chances, especially in the second half when a clutch of crosses went abegging. Long-rangers too were off-target and Postal, who were mostly on the defensive, had something to cheer about at the end of the day.
Xavier Vijayakumar toiled manfully without reward in the HASC frontline while Kuttymani, Sumit and Murali attempted shots from outside the penalty area, only to find their efforts missing the mark. Postal, on the other hand, shaped a couple of breakaway moves through Srinivas, who almost breached the HASC defence in the 38th minute. A timely save by Gumpe Rime helped the Aircraftmen keep a clean slate at half-time.
HASC attacked more through the flanks in the second half, but up front, there was none who could use the crosses to telling effect.
Nandakumar and Murali could only manage weak headers while Xavier, who was in an excellent position to beat Postal goalkeeper Ravindran in the 78th minute, failed to cash in.
With no rewards for their toil, HASC had to settle for just one point, taking their tally to nine from five matches. Postal, who have just one match left, are on 13 points. MEG head the table, with 19 points from seven games.