Department of Youth Services and Sports (DYSS) slumped to their sixth defeat from as many outings, going down by a lone goal to a lacklustre Southern Blues in the Super Division football league at the Bangalore Football Stadium here on Wednesday.
Striker Udaya Kumar’s goal four minutes from regulation time saved the day for Blues after his seemingly valid scoring claim was denied by an off-side call by linesman Michael in the 67th minute.
DYSS, the only team yet to open their account in the current league, were left frustrated when their two strikes in either sessions were nullified by off-side calls.
Blues, being an experienced unit and with a relatively better start to the season, were expected to dominate the young DYSS side. But, right from kick-off, they struggled to play up to that reputation.
Be it shooting or passing, Blues ran out of ideas inside the rival penalty area with forward Roy being guilty of missing a couple of sitters.
DYSS too were no different and like in the previous matches, the young boys showed much promise and impressed in patches but failed in the scoring department.
A good opportunity went awry for DYSS in the 28th minute when Suji failed to latch on to a good Kiran Kumar cross from the right. In the second-half, Enosh almost found their first league goal but his header found the crossbar.
At the other end, unhappy over the off-side call that denied him a goal, Udaya tested rival custodian Chiranjeevi with a right-footer and a header in quick succession. However, he reaped rich reward for his hard work when Don Bosco fed him from the right and the wiry customer put one past Chiranjeevi with a neat touch.
Blues, with two wins and a draw, have seven points from five matches and are placed eighth in the 15-team table.
Other result: ‘A’ Division: Nationals: 4 (Om Prakash 4th, Shyam Kumar 23rd, Robin D’Souza 48th, Dhruva Kumar 65th) bt Government Press: 2 (Vijaya Babu 60th, Sudhakar 73rd).
Thursday’s matches: ‘A’ Division: SWRI vs Tilak Memorial, 1.45 pm; Super Division: SAI vs CIL, 3.45 pm.
