Agencies
NEW DELHI: There is no stopping ONGC at home. After getting the better of East Bengal in the previous round, the Santosh Kashyap coached side edged past Salgaocar Football Club 1-0 in a 16th round I-League football match, at Ambedkar Stadium, here, Saturday.
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F Lalmuanpuia’s goal in the second half turned out to be the match-winner in an otherwise evenly matched contest. Yusa Katsumi, whose run in the 75th minute almost doubled the tally for the hosts, was awarded the man-of-the-match award for the second consecutive time.
For the visitors, Marcus Mascarenhas muffed one of the easiest chances of the season, failing to convert from six yards after Royston D’Souza had set him perfectly. The win takes ONGC to 19 points from 15 outings while Salgaocar remain on 11 points playing one match less.
While the second half was eventful, the first half saw nothing happening for either side. Among the few notable chances, ONGC custodian Rehenesh’s double save deserves a mention. In the 36th minute, a Quinton Jacobs header off a Randeep Singh cross was fisted away by Rehenesh. He was called into action again seconds later when Randeep tried his luck on the rebound.
There was a slight scare for the hosts when their in-form Japanese import Yusa Katsumi was roughly tackled by Jacobs. A limping Katsumi took the resultant free kick which created little flutter inside the dreaded area.
