JOIN US Title aspirants Army Service Corps (ASC) missed chances galore but still managed to eke out a routine 2-1 victory over Rail Wheel Factory (RWF) in their opening match of the BDFA Super Division League here on Monday.
After huge periods of domination led to nothing, thanks to hasty finishing and some fine goalkeeping from Dilip Kumar, Sreejith calmed ASC’s nerves with an early second half goal before the seasoned Jotin Singh added in a second to seal victory at the Bangalore Football stadium.
ASC were clearly the superior side right from the kick off. Enjoying bulk of the possession and raiding RWF’s citadel almost every minute, they kept creating chances after chances, hardly allowing RWF any breathing space.
However, the youthful squad -- some just graduating from their training school Boys Sports Company -- squandered all of them largely due to inexperience. Nearly six sitters went abegging in the first half that also saw Dilip produce some fine saves that kept RWF on level terms with their opponents until the break.
With two more misses within three minutes of resumption it appeared that it won’t be ASC’s day before Sreejith struck in the 50th minute. Jotin Singh headed a cross from the left goalward but a diving Dilip blocked it. To the custodian’s dismay, the ball ballooned straight to Sreejith, who headed it home without any fuss.
Post the goal too, ASC showed a lot of creativity but failed in the finish
ing department. Jotin, one of the three experienced players in the squad, then headed home N Kartik’s freekick in the 74th minute to give ASC a 2-0 cushion.
RWF reduced the margin off a penalty, awarded by referee G Michael after Deepu was brought down inside the box. Prakash converted it to make it 2-1.
In ‘A’ Division, SAI drew with LRDE 1-1. Abrar struck for SAI in the 50th minute while Kiran equalised in the 76th.
Tuesday’s matches: ‘A’ Division: AGORC vs ISRO (1.00 pm).
Super Division: MEG vs KSP (3.00 pm).