Gritty Tigers put paid to SUFC hopes

An erratic South United Football Club went out of reckoning for a berth in the next phase of the Second Division I-League as Mumbai Tigers and Southern Samity took firm steps towards progressing to Round II with gritty victories at the Bangalore Football Stadium here on Friday.

SUFC squandered their lead to crash to their fourth defeat, going down 1-3 to Tigers who climbed to top of the standings with 13 points from five matches in Group ‘C’. Samity, who scored a 2-0 win over Hindustan Football Club with goals from Suroj Mondal (48th) and David Ngaihte (71st), too have 13 points but trail the Mumbai outfit on goal difference.

Tigers have a +7 goal difference to that of +6 for the Kolkatans. Vasco Sports Club (10) and Kalighat Milan Sangha (9) are hot on the heels of the top two teams after the fifth round of matches in the eight-team league.

SUFC went ahead through Vinoth Kumar in the ninth minute before Tigers roared back through goals from Sunil Kumar (15th), Mohammed Rafi M (39th) and substitute Bikash Jairu (74th) to settle the issue.

Needing a win to stay in the competition, SUFC started off brightly and it seemed SUFC might pull off a surprise victory when Vinoth put them ahead. Vinoth trapped a through pass on the right to place the ball to the left of advancing ‘keeper Avijit Ghosh.

SUFC maintained tempo after the goal but an error from their goalkeeper helped their rivals to make it 1-1. Razakh,  failed to negotiate a curling corner from the left by Sunil Kumar and the ball landed in the net. Tigers then went ahead in the 39th minute when Rafi slotted home a Demba Dikhate pass from the right. 

SUFC toiled hard in the second half but Ghosh denied Amoes on two occasions with diving saves. Tigers breathed easy when Jairu, who replaced Thoi Singh in the 69th, found the top of the net with a curling left-footer from the edge of the box on the right.

Meanwhile, after an injury to a spectator on Thursday when a chunk of plaster from the roof fell on his head, KSFA cordoned off that area. 

“An engineer has inspected the stadium and now we will start the maintenance work from tomorrow morning (Saturday). We will finish the plastering at the stadium part by part,” said KSFA general secretary E Krishnanarayana.

Saturday’s match:  Vasco Sports Club vs Kalighat Milan Sangha (4.00 pm).

Group C points table

Mumbai Tigers    5    4    1    0    11    4    +7    13
Southern Samity    5    4    1    0    7    1    +6    13
Vasco SC    5    3    1    1    5     2    +3    10
Kalighat Milan    5    3    0    2    15       5    +10    9
Eagles FC    5    1    1    3     5       9    -4    4
South United    5    1    0    4     6     9    -3    3
Hindustan FC    5    1    0    4     2     7         -5    3
Luangmual FC    5    1    0    4    6     20    -14     3
Read as: M-Matches, W-Win,  D-Draw, L-Loss, GF-Goal For, GA-Goal Against, GD-Goal Difference, Pts-Points