MEG blank Dharmaraja

A brace from Lokeshwar Singh -- who could have scored plenty more -- in the 16th and 48th minutes, and strikes from Dipen Thapa in the 80th and Ramu (88th) gave the Sappers their second successive win.

MEG, expectedly, dominated the match from the opening whistle and, after spurning a couple of half-chances along with having a goal disallowed, jumped to a 1-0 lead in the 16th minute, courtesy a penalty.

Right-winger Vineet crossed for Ramu in the centre of the Dharmaraja penalty area. Ramu tried to cut inside to his right foot to take a strike but defender Christopher stopped his progress illegally, leading to referee Suresh Kumar pointing to the spot. The penalty was duly dispatched by Lokeshwar to the top left.

Any hopes of Dharmaraja getting back into the game were squashed ten minutes later when Ravi Babu picked up a second yellow card for a late tackle on Jiten. Down to ten men, Dharmaraja had no choice but to defend deep, leaving MEG to create chance after chance. The first half, though, ended with MEG still only leading by one goal.
MEG, however, upped the ante by scoring their second goal three minutes into the second half.

Vineet played in a nice cross from the right to Karnataka forward Nguerenilal, who in turn laid it off perfectly for Lokeshwar to strike a low shot with his left foot into the bottom corner from 12 yards out.

Lokeshwar then tried in vain to get his hat-trick, missing a bagful of chances. With the Dharmaraja players tiring, MEG capitalised and found two goals in the final minutes of the game through substitute Thapa, who slotted it past goalkeeper Balaji off an assist from Lokeshwar, and Ramu, who made it 4-0 with an astute finish.

Other result: ‘A’ Division: LRDE: 2 (Stalin 20th, Chandrakumar 78th) bt Government Press: 1 (Naga 32nd).