BANGALORE, JAN 30
After back to back losses, Dempo bounced back strongly drubbing HAL 3-0 at Bangalore on Sunday.
Nigerian Ranty Martins opened the account for Dempo in the 7th minute. Roberto Mendes Silva (Beto) netted the second goal at the 4th minute after changing ends. It was Ranty again in the 67th minute, who scored the final goal.
HAL missed influential players like Xavier Vijay Kumar and RC Prakash due to injury. They started with the same formation they played in their last match against East Bengal – 4-5-1, with Nigerian Hamza as the lone striker and captain J Murali supporting from behind.
However, the ploy didn’t work this time. Murali, who has been a decent performer for his team this season, had a dreadful show today. He failed to control the ball on several occasions and gave away to the opponents.
In fact, this kind of error was something common for the entire team in the first half. Hamza could not do much as he was often left stranded in the upfront without much support.
National player Climax Lawrence played the main role in Dempo’s first goal.
He put an accurate pass for Ranty from the right flank, the later picked the ball while entering into HAL defense, taking the entire defense by surprise. Keeper Pramodh left the goal charging to the incoming Nigerian, Ranty kept his cool and scooped the ball in front of Pramodh.
Few minutes later, Hamza made a nice move down the right flank and passed to Murali, the later squandered the chance by taking a feeble right footer.
Despite the pitch being inconsistent and uneven, Beto led the charge by displaying some nice one-touch football with his mid-field.
Dempo started the second half with the same tempo. In the 49th minute, defender Femi failed to clear the ball cleanly, it went to Beto who was standing at the right corner of the penalty box. A smart Beto directly rolled the ball diagonally to the far post out of the keeper’s reach.
Finally, in the 67th minute, Ranti sealed their fate by placing the final nail in the coffin.
Dempo coach Armando Colaco looked satisfied after the match. He seemed glad that the boys have pulled this out match. The coach added, “Our focus for this season is definitely AFC Champions League, we have a match coming up on February 19 with the winners of the Al Sadd (Qatar) and Al Ittihad (Syria), and want to qualify for the next stage. That’s a dream for me keeping our I-League record intact.”
