JCT, Air-India play out listless, goalless draw

Mumbai, Feb 27 (UNI) Air-India and JCT split points playing out a dull goalless draw in a seventh round ONGC-sponsored National Football League match at the Cooperage here today.

The Phagwara outfit certainly deserved more than a point from the outing because they did most of the running and created more chances. Sadly, these were not utilized and the visitors were left to rue another lost opportunity.

This was the second draw for Air India and third for the Punjab team, who moved upto 11 and six points respectively.

Central midfielder Adewusi Adebayo, voted man-of-the-match, and striker Chidi Edeh, helped JCT establish ascendancy over the proceedings, the former by being the fulcrum of all the midfield moves and the latter by constantly harrying the Air-India defence with his raids.

But Edeh lacked support upfront as partner Parveen Kumar was not up to the task. The other members of the northern outfit though played out the roles assigned to them quite competently, with young stopper back Guruwinder Singh and right-wing back Baldeep Singh giving a good account of themselves.

However, for all their hard work, JCT blotted their copybook with some wayward shooting after creating a number of decent opportunities.

Air-India, on the other hand, were sorely lacking in attacking ideas and did little to threaten the rival defence except with some stray raids. Their forwards -- Samson Singh, Bashiru Abbas and winger Paresh Shivalkar -- were off-colour while their midfield ploughed a listless furrow for the most part.

Even throw-in specialist Uttam Singh, who came on in the second half, could not disturb the composure of the JCT defence with his tossed up concoctions.

JCT travel to Bangalore to take on HAL on March 5 while Air-India heads for Goa for an eighth round clash with Dempo on March 9.

UNI