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Air India scored a stunning 2-0 victory over Dempo Sports Club to hand
the favourites and former champions their third successive defeat in a tenth round I-League clash at the Nehru Stadium, Fatorda.
Substitute Manandeep Singh (71st minute) and Collin Abranches (87th) scored wonderful long-range goals in the second session to confirm that Air India are now a far better team than the one that lost 1-4 against Mumbai FC in the opening match.
Air India did not seem like walking away with full points against Dempo especially after playing second fiddle to the hosts in the opening 45 minutes. But Santosh Kashyap’s brave boys had a plan and stuck to their counter-attacking game till the end.
Dempo had plenty of ball possession in the first session but could not translate their dominance into goals. Nigerian striker Ranty Martins had a gentle push kiss the sidepost and rebound back into play early in the game but that was the closest Dempo got to drawing first blood.
Clifford Miranda then missed possibly the best chance of the match when he failed to direct his header from close range inside an open goal.
In the second session, Air India scored much against the run of play. At a time when Dempo were mounting the pressure at the other end, Air India pressed ahead and found the opening. It came from an unexpected move as a quick throw in saw Manandeep catch the entire defence and goalkeeper Subhashish Rpy Chowdhury by surprise with a snapshot that bulged the net.
The Air India goal did survive some anxious moments. Substitute Joaquim Abranches’ booming long ranger missed the target by a whisker while goalkeeper Pawan Kumar did well to keep out another powerful shot from Sameer Naik.
Air India sealed full points when Collin Abranches trapped a ball outside the danger zone and beat the rival goalkeeper with a fierce attempt.
The result puts Dempo at the second spot (behind Churchill Brothers) with 21 points from 10 matches while Air India move to 16 points from 10 matches.
Air India’s Lamine Tamba was declared the Man of the Match.
