The Hindu : Agragami settles for a draw

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 27, 2003

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Sport - Football

Agragami settles for a draw

By Our Sports Reporter

KOLKATA FEB. 26. DTDC Tollygunge Agragami stretched its undefeated run to six consecutive games, playing out a 3-3 draw against Hindustan Aeronautics Limited SC (HALSC) in a 16th round match of the Oil PSU VII National Football League at the Salt Lake Stadium here on Wednesday.

Agragami could well have cruised to a comfortable win, leading 3-1 till the 78th minute, but a late charge from the Bangalore team saw the host conceding two quick goals and settle for a draw.

Agragami under coach Aloke Mukherjee has been one of the most impressive performers — apart from the title aspirant Kingfisher East Bengal — and in maintaining its undefeated run in the second phase has eclipsed many of the fancied outfits. Agragami has 22 points from six wins, six losses (all in the first leg) and four draws, while HALSC continued to be one of the bottom-placed teams with eight points from two wins and two draws.

Agragami, which had beaten HAL 2-1 in the first phase in Bangalore, appeared set to repeat its feat. Agragami dominated the proceedings right from the start but a spate of misses prevented it from gaining the lead.

HALSC had the honour of breaking the deadlock as its Nigerian striker Kenneth Onu scored in the 32nd minute. The visitor's joy was, however, short-lived as the host restored parity a minute later when midfielder Srikanta Dutta slotted home the equaliser.

The first session had the two teams tied 1-1.

In the second session, Agragami doubled its efforts and the HALSC citadel fell in the 57th minute when Nigerian forward Moses Owira found the target with a neat placing.

Agragami continued its attacks and succeeded in enhancing the lead through Sujay Dutta in the 75th minute. The 3-1 cushion seemed to induce complacency in the host's ranks and HALSC, making the best of the situation, got Onu to reduce the margin in the 78th minute.

The Nigerian striker was in the provider's role next when his pass in the 80th minute found substitute Satish Kumar on top of the Agragami box. Kumar made no mistake with an angular shot that beat the Agragami custodian, Arindam Ghosh, all ends up.

Onu was rewarded with the ONGC man-of-the-match award for his efforts.

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