BEL, for whom Musharaf netted three goals and Lal scored the other, dished out a dominating second-half performance. In a lively first half, little separated the teams apart for the scoreline.

ADE matched their rivals’ aggression early on, despite conceding a goal in the eighth minute.

An Aravind close-ranger from the left deflected off the crosspiece, and Musharaf darted in from the right to slot home the rebound.

Forward Stephen was off-colour, but Aravind and midfielder Musharaf made up with frequent raids while ADE relied on Donald for attacks.

Till moments before the break, the match was evenly poised but BEL’s injury-time strike shocked ADE.

Pouncing on a loose ball just outside the rival box, an unmarked Lal had enough time to place his left-footer to the right corner of the goal.

The second goal shattered the ADE morale, and their strikers didn’t stretch opponent custodian Suresh HS even once after resumption.

Meanwhile, BEL kept pressing forward and in the 68th minute, Musharaf scored his second goal as he got his head to a well-directed cross from the right from Aravind.

Musharaf came close to his third goal twice but ADE goalkeeper Dilip got the better of him, first with a good block and then with a valiant charge.

However, Musharaf had the last laugh when referee Mani awarded a penalty in injury time for a rough challenge on him by the goalkeeper, which earned the latter only a yellow card caution from the referee.

Musharaf eventually scored with his third spot-kick after the first two were nullified by the referee as his team-mates charged into the box before the kick had been taken.

Other result: ‘A’ Division: Nationals: 3 (Daniel 14, Robin D’Souza 39, S Dhruv Kumar 58) bt Tilak Memorial: 1 (Nitesh Baruily 49).

Sunday’s matches: ‘A’ Division: AGORC vs SWRI (1.45 pm); Super Division: HASC vs MEG (3.45 pm).