The Hindu : Tollygunge Agragami crushes FC Kochin

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 16, 2002

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Sport - Football

Tollygunge Agragami crushes FC Kochin

By Our Special Correspondent

KOCHI APRIL 15. Tollygunge Agragami, Kolkata fought brilliantly to survive the threat of relegation from the National football league with a classy 5-0 win over FC Kochin at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium here on Monday.

The final round match of the 6th Tata-NFL, so crucial for both the teams in the fray, as the score-line would indicate turned out to be a one-sided affair as the Kochi side hardly showed the courage to take its rival by the horns before suffering the double ignominy of a defeat and demotion from the premier league.

Left in a must-win situation to stay put in the event, the Kochi side's youthful brigade seemed to be weighed down by the pressure and succumbed without putting up a decent fight much to the disappointment of its fans.

In contrast, the Kolkata outfit needing only a draw took no chances right from the word go and were well rewarded in the end for its positive approach which itself was the result of the hard work done by combine of Mehtab Hossain and Ashim Biswas.

Working from the right, the duo proved a major threat to the local side's calculations very early into the match itself as they send Akeem Abolanli to check out the credentials of goalkeeper Ali Abubacker.

The Ghanian custodian might have had the initial laugh but he had hardly any answer when Abolanli screened Obinna Winners, as they waited for the flag-kick from Sasti Duley, well and let Mehtab gain possession and stab the ball in effortlessly.

The early goal indeed did take the steam away from the local side and it did not take long for one to realise that the expected fight back would never materialise. And thus given the freedom to sustain the pressure, the Kolkata players never looked back as they came rushing in to consolidate their team's position further.

It was only valiant efforts of Ali Abubacker which stopped Tollygunge from gaining a second goal during the remaining period of the first session in as he stopped Mehtab, Ashim and Sasti from scoring after Abolanli had shook the crosspiece off a pass from the left. However, Tollygunge was not be denied for long and Ali Abubacker was finally beaten when Sasti Duley sold a dummy to Sajeer and put through Mehtab with possession, who waited before hitting the back of the net with a neat volley.

Abolanli, running away from the advanced rival defence, capped a fine solo to make it 3-0 before FC Kochin was reduced to ten-men as Ali Abubacker rushed to thwart an rushing Ashim and was promptly red-carded by the Malaysian referee, R.Krishnan. Noushad taking his place palmed away the free-kick from Mehtab but was hardly in position as Ashim took control of the rebound and rifled in a powerful shot. Noushad once again was successful as he punched away a Mehtab attempt to knock in a flag-kick, moments later, but again was caught unawares as Moses N. Oira moved in quickly and seized the opportunity to hammer in the last nail into FC Kochin's coffin.

Tollygunge as it finished in the ninth position had a tally of 23 points while the Kochi side, unable to stave off relegation, had to be satisfied with the 11th place with a total of 17 points.

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