Ozbey nets a brace to power Dempo past Sporting

Tolgay Ozbey scored twice as Dempo capitalised on Sporting clube de Goa’s shaky defence to score an impressive 4-0 win in their 20th round I-League match here on Saturday.

Dempo, who led 4-0 at half-time, scored through Tolgay (16th, 30th), Roberto Silva (18th) and Clifford Miranda (25th).

Tackles from their defenders Deepak Devrani and Keenan Almeida saw Sporting concede two penalty in a span of two minutes, and Dempo scored off both. Clifford Miranda found the target off Allwyn George’s pass, for the team’s third goal.
Tolgay then picked a long ball from Miranda beat the  goalkeeper Ravi Kumar, to complete the rout.

Pune lose ground

Meanwhile, second placed Pune FC lost further ground in the battle for top spot as they could only draw 2-2 at home against Shillong Lajong.

After table toppers Bengaluru FC had beaten Churchill Brothers 3-0 earlier in the day to go five points clear, Pune needed to respond.

But the home side were actually in danger of losing all three points when they were trailing 2-1 with minutes to go before Mirjan popped up to score to salvage a draw.
Gabriel Fernandes had put Pune in front in the 14th minute before a brace from Brazilian Uilliams Souza (26th, 70th) put them in danger of losing the contest. The point sees Pune with 30 points – nervously looking above their shoulders with Salgaocar and Sporting breathing down their necks.

Mohammedans draw

Meanwhile, Mohammedan Sporting and Mohun Bagan played out a goalless draw at the Salt Lake Stadium on Saturday.

The result takes Mohun Bagan’s points tally to 21 points from 19 outings while Mohammedan Sporting are on 17 with two games in hand.

Mohammedan Sporting substitute Penn Orji had two decent opportunities towards the end but the Nigerian first volleyed wide and then couldn’t hit the target.