KHOLAPUR, FEB 3
In an entertaining encounter, Air India and Salgaocar dished out a 1-1 draw in I-League at Sahu Maharaj ground, here on Thursday.
In an action-packed first half, both teams got equal opportunities to score but failed to get the finishing act right. In the 20th minute, Air India midfielder Sukhvinder Singh took a shot which just missed the post by a whisker. Also Manjit Singh and Okorogor Praise were unable to score off the free kicks in the 38th and 40th minutes.
It seems injury has been never ending story for Air India as they received another injury blow when their second goalkeeper K Kunal Sawant fractured his wrist in an attempt to save the ball in the 25th minute and will be out of action for almost three to four months.
Air India coach Santosh Kashyap felt that his replacement Avijit Ghosh didn’t get time to settle down and that led to the team not being able to win the tie which they could have won.
Salgaocar’s Yusuf Yakubu put his side up in injury time (45+4’) when he found the target through his header.
Air India defence played their part as despite trailing by a goal, they didn’t allow Salgaocar strikers to consolidate on their one goal advantage.
Okorogor Praise restored parity in the 79th minute to help his team to snatch a crucial one point from the home match. After getting a cross from the left from Collin Abranches, Okorogor tapped the ball in with ease.
The worries for Air India just seemed to be mounting as after getting a yellow card in the 55th minute Dhanachandra Singh was once again booked in the 85th minute and was ejected out of the field. The Manipuri defender will miss the all-important tie against Mumbai FC on February 13.
Air India coach Santosh Kashyap said, “It’s good that after conceding a goal we came back and scored the equaliser. I am happy that we got one point from the match, but a win could have done wonders as we are playing good and coming well each match. I feel that after Kunal’s injury, Avijit didn’t get time to settle down.”
