Dempo rally to hold AIFF XI
AGENCIES
GURGAON, JAN 8
AIFF XI put up some impressive display to hold defending champions Dempo to a 1-1 draw in Round VIII I-League match, here, Saturday.
The Delhi-based youngsters, who lost 0-6 against Churchill Brothers on Monday, did not allow Dempo to play their free-flowing passing game and split points in the match at Tau Devi Lal Stadium, Gurgaon.
Shilton D’Silva scored for AIFF in the ninth minute while Dempo captain Ranty Martins equalised in the 29th minute. Martins, however, failed to convert a penalty at the stroke of half time after AIFF XI player Subodh Kumar handled the ball inside the box.
Dempo players were denied space and ball possession by the more agile AIFF XI players who are a mixture of National under-19 and U-23 players.
Armando Colaco’s charges were apparently affected by the cold winter conditions here, much different from that in Goa and they started very slowly.
AIFF XI took full advantage of favourable conditions and put pressure on Dempo defence immediately after start of play. The Dempo defence allowed D’Silva a solo run into their box and a slow reacting John Dias made a desperate bid to clear the ball which only hit the AIFF midfielder’s leg and rolled into the net with goalkeeper Laxmikant Kattimani beaten all ends up.
Jolted by the goal, Dempo regrouped and found the equaliser with Martins finding the target off a fine pass from Joaquim Abranches just before the half-hour mark.
The AIFF defence led by captain Raju Gaikwad did a fine job throughout the match. Gaikwad’s partner at the AIFF central defence, Deepak Devrani was named man-of-the-match. Devrani gave little space to dangerous Martins who was mediocre today.
At the stroke of half-time, AIFF goalkeeper Jagroop Singh dived to his right to block a Martin’s feeble kick from the spot.
