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Soares' sorcery leaves ITI numb

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE Nov. 28. Mario Soares was the man of the hour turning what would have been an honourable draw on its head into a thrilling win for Dempo over ITI barely minutes before the end.

On the day the Goans were more energetic on the pitch but and less innovative. That explained away the side's poor finished even after creating umpteen chances.

ITI goal-keeper Gumpe Rime had been stubborn as a barn door, but even the reliable Rime had absolutely no clue when this climax unfolded, as clueless as the ITI defenders who nearly stood in a line at that fateful moment when from nowhere Soares worked his way in front of them and let go a drive that sliced through a horde of legs and out of Rime's reach.

Hands on their heads, the ITI defenders presented a pathetic sight, the suddenness of it all had clearly left them shell-shocked.

It all started with Majek Bolaji, Dempo's vital cog, demanding and getting a mid-field ball. He then did what he knows best. Find the best man for the ball. By the time the defending flock had sized up the situation the ball had gone here and there before Mario Soares, moving up with the flow, had it within his sight. So when the defence last saw the ball, Soares was on it, but in the next snap shot, the ball had wobbled past them all into an area that was too remote for Rime to defend. Probably he lost sight of action because of the crowd in front of him.

On the day's showing the result looked somewhat harsh on the Telephonemen. They had done well to prevent Dempo from scoring though they themselves had fallen woefully short on scoring a goal. With injury to key players and that Administrative hiccup in the clearance for Ghanian players still nagging the side, ITI had to make do with the available bench strength.

Tejinder Kumar often cracked under pressure while the forward line itself could never quite strike a rythm of any sort. Players often being individualistic for a side as a whole to produce something tangible. Yet Murali got close enough to stir the Dempo defence. Raghuvir did a few eye-catching runs down the flank and Zubair was often left alone. So nothing concrete to really put the Dempo under pressure.

On the other hand, Majek Bolaji seemingly energised the attacking line into swift counters. ITI's Roopesh did a commendable job of denying leeway for Sergey Andrew to work at his normal pace. This was a clear deterrent though Dempo came up with other ideas to beat the system.

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