Sporting Clube hold JCT to a 1-1 draw in NFL

Ludhiana, Apr 21 (UNI) JCT were lucky to escape with a 1-1 draw against Sporting Clube, Goa in the 15th round of the 11th National Football League (NFL) at the Guru Nanak stadium here today.

A goal in injury time helped the local side earn a draw against the Goan outfit, which is lying seventh in the league table with 18 points. With this draw JCT now have 22 points and stay at the fourth spot in the league table.

The spotlight in the match was on two Nigerians--Chidi Edeh of JCT and Dudu Omagbermi of Sporting Clube, with the latter walking away with the honours. It was Dudu's goal in the 81st minute that stunned the millmen and almost clinched the match for his side.

However it was the little known Sakatar Singh who in the 2nd minute of injury time beat the crouching Sporting custodian Felix D'Souza with a low shot that the goalkeeper failed to sight. The millmen who are difficult to beat on their home turf, heaved a sign of relief as the ball touched the net.

The Goan side played to a plan and had their best defenders shadow the dangerous Chidi and his striking partner Sunil Chhetri, who together have scored 18 goals amongst them in the NFL this season. The two side shared the honours in the first half, but in the second half the millmen became desperate and raided the rival citadel a number of times but the Sporting defenders did well not to conceed a goal. Felix D'Souza also played his role well and came up with a few spectacular saves.

In the 81st minutue of play Dudu in combination with Wilson Jones beat the JCT defence and slid the ball past the diving goalkeeper Karanjit Singh. Stung by the reverse, the millmen were all over the rival defence and ultimately Sakatar singh scored for the home side to level the score.

The Goan side which had beaten the millmen in the away game at Goa, were satisfied with the draw, though their coach Clifford Chukuwama felt that they should have won after the goal in the dying minutes of the game. With todays goal, Dudu now has 11 goals to his credit and is amongst the leading goal scorers. Chhetri has 10 goals to his credit while Chidi has scored eight.

UNI