Gritty SAI rally past RWF

 A spirited performance from Sports Authority of India (SAI) saw them bounce back from two goals down to win 4-3 against Rail Wheel Factory (RWF) in the BDFA Super Division league, which resumed after a month-long gap, at the Bangalore Football Stadium here on Monday.

RWF started the brighter of the two teams, creating a host of chances in the first half. Nanda Kumar opened the scoring in the 21st minute and Mani added another in the 24th minute as the Railmen raced to a 2-0 lead.

However against the run of play, SAI got one back in the through Vignesh D (30th minute), who slotted home past the on-rushing goalkeeper Apun after a good counter-attacking play.

 Soon after Sridhar capitalised on RWF’s poor defence, that failed to clear a fine cross sent in by Sudarshan V, to tap in the equaliser in the 39th minute.

Both the teams fought hard in the second half as well.
SAI, who oozed confidence after equalising, then took the lead in the 75th minute when Vignesh forced an own goal from RWF’s defender Azhar. The ball deflected into the net after Azhar dived in to clear a Vignesh’s shot from an acute angle.

But the lead didn’t last long as RWF immediately drew parity through Nanda Kumar (76th minute). SAI though didn’t back down and threw men forward in search of a winner.

Stephen Raj collected  a good through ball from Sridhar to score the winner in the 82nd minute.

Results: Super Division: SAI: 4 (Vignesh D 30th, Sridhar 39th, Azar 75th O.G, Stephen Raj 82nd) bt RWF: 3 (Nanda Kumar 21st, 76th, Mani 24th).

‘A’ Division: LRDE: 3 (Edwin George 3rd, Hemanth 19th, Stalin 57th) bt Young Challengers: 0