James Singh, Raman Vijayan star for Bengal

By A. Vinod

THRISSUR, APRIL 13. Mighty Bengal scored a facile 4-0 win over its Group X rival Services for its first victory in two matches in the 56th National championship at the Municipal Stadium here on Thursday.

But then, the manner in which the champion side, which has lifted the Santosh Trophy a record 29 times, fretted and fumed in the first session only proved its vulnerability to get going against a disciplined rival.

Then again, it should be also noted that Services, for all the verve and vigour that it exhibited in the barren first- half, deceived all its supporters before it eventually succumbed without a fight in the final session.

The turning point of the game was indeed the induction of James Singh into the Bengal midfield at the restart. The young linkman worked wonders to motivate the rest of his team-mates and did have a prominent role in his side's win, to which he also contributed two goals. The other two were scored by Raman Vijayan, of which one was shaped up by the hard working James, who undoubtedly was the hero of the day.

Bengal had brought about a couple of changes in its line-up against the one which had taken the field against Karnataka in its campaign-opener. And one among them was James, who was substituted by N. Khemthang. However, the latter as it were was unable to make any impression and struggled almost in the same way the side's skipper, Basudeb Mondal strained to mark his attendance.

The failure of the duo to keep their colleagues upfront engaged had its impact everywhere in the field even as the game continued on a slow pace and the Services players found themselves running close to their rivals. In the early part of first-half, the ball was also stuck most of the time at the half- line until such time Sheik Sanjib, playing in the place of Dipendu Biswas, took the initiative to try and put his side ahead.

But things again never worked in the favour of the Bengal side as Dipankar Roy muffed the cross from the left and Raman Vijayan, a few minutes later, headed out another one of the moves fashioned by Sanjib. Services, which found equal prominence following the rusty approach of its rival was a disappointment when it came to providing any thrust to the action.

Most of its players were also too slow in the release of the ball and held possession for long which in the process also gave sufficient time for the rival players to regroup. This also prevented the side from penetrating into the rival penalty box so much so, that Prasanta Dora was never stretched at any time of the match. The only occasions when the Bengal custodian was forced to dive was the couple of long-rangers brought up by the rival forwards.

James Singh, however, almost single-handedly was to lift the game to a different level straightaway. Suddenly, there also seemed some urgency among the side's forwards, who were quick to dart in and push the rival defence even further behind. Bengal, benefitting from this change in the pattern of the game, finally got the breakthrough in the 51st when Raman Vijayan opened the score-board with a fine header off a free-kick by Ratan Singh, from just outside the box.

This also signalled the complete dominance of the side for the first time before James Singh progressed through the left and consolidated Bengal's position with a fine solo effort. The surprise here was the failure of the Services' defenders to react against a fast approaching James and come up with any effort to contain the damage.

The demoralised Services players were already out of the picture and proved no match to their rivals especially when James Singh provided Raman Vijayan the opportunity to make it 3-0 and then turned himself scorer for a second time capitalising on a pass from R.P. Singh. Services, having lost to Kerala 2-5 earlier, are now out of the reckoning though it does have a match still on hand.

Punjab will meet Maharashtra and Kerala will take on Karnataka in the two matches scheduled for Friday.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : Klusener dismisses report that he exposed Cronje
Next     : Chennai regains title