Gritty MEG hold Fortis

Poovanna scores equaliser for Sappers in close tie

The meagre crowd expected the Ashish Ballal-coached Fortis to run rings around MEG, and the team stacked with four Indian national players, did exactly that.

But whenever the ball rolled anywhere close to their citadel or a Fortis striker made forays into the striking area, MEG’s defenders formed an almost impenetrable wall.

Fortis, after umpteen attempts, drilled a tiny hole in the wall in the 54th minute with Navdeep Sing, diving to his left and reverse hitting the ball in the little space between MEG goalkeeper P Dhanesh and the bottom right hand side of the board. Having spent the first half successfully containing Fortis’ over-ambitious strikers, the young Sappers switched into attacking mode without compromising their defence.

After several attempts, which fizzled away having come close enough to strike, Sappers were awarded their first penalty corner in the 56th minute, the second in the 58th, the third in the 59th but much to their dismay none of them materialised.

However, in the 62nd minute, MEG striker Sahay Jayaseelan was taken down by Tyron Periera on the right-hand edge of the semi-circle and umpire Domnic Savio awarded the ‘underdogs’ their fourth penalty corner.

Muthanna pushed the ball in and Rabindra Tigga stopped the ball for team’s top-scorer Poovanna to drag flick the ball past Fortis’ goalkeeper Ekka’s outstretched hands and into the top-left corner of the net.

With the scores on level, both the teams opted to play it safe, more so MEG than Fortis, as the match meandered into a 1-all deadlock.