Yakubu stars for Salgaocar

Yakubu scored his goals in the 34th and 69th minutes respectively while the toher two goals for the Goan side came courtesy Ryuji Sueoka in the 39th and Ekena Ikenwa in second half stoppage time.

With the victory, Salgaocar now have 31 points from fourteen matches played, the same as East Bengal, but top the table as a result of a better goal difference. The host opened the scoring, after coming close to scoring on few occasions, in the 34th minute.
Sueoka floated the ball from the left off a corner, which keeper Shahinlal Meloly failed to avert as he came out to claim the ball. An unmarked Yakubu duly slotted the ball into the net.

Five minutes later, Sueoka doubled the lead when he flicked the ball on the run off a cross from Francis Fernandes, who did all the hard work on the left.

Viva Kerala looked better after the change of ends and had two early chances but Felix Chumaokwu failed to beat an alert keeper Karanjit Singh under the bar.

The hosts then took control over the proceeding and Yakubu scored his second in the 67th minute to shut out any chances of the Kerala team coming back. Substitute Ekene M Ikenwa then hit the last nail into the rival’s coffin when he scored in stoppage time to help Salgaocar move at the top of the table.

Meanwhile, Mumbai FC defeated Air India 1-0 in Kolhapur. Henry Ezeh scored the only goal of the match in the 15th minute.Following this win, Mumbai FC are fifth with 24 points while Air India lie twelfth with 10 points from 14 matches.