Sporting show fire in 3-3 draw

Kolkata, Mar 17 (UNI) Mohammedan Sporting rallied from 0-2 down, to secure a 3-3 draw against Air India in the ONGC National Football League at the Salt Lake Stadium here today.

Biswajit Bhattacharjee had been an unassuming coach. But his game reading and planning has been excellent. Today he showed why he was one of the favourite students of Chirich Milovan.

The Mumbai outfit began on a positive note and took the lead in the 37th minute. Samson Singh took advantage of a flat footed Rajib Ahmed and scored. He doubled the lead in the 52nd minute, thanks to another defensive error.

In fact, both the sidebacks for Sporting, Ahmed and Farooq Hayder had a bad day that let the airmen use the flanks to good effect.

However, Bhattacharjee was not cowed down by the situation. With his side 0-2 down, Sporting coach Biswajit Bhattacharya had no option but to gamble.

He put lanky defender Eric Mputu upfront and the move turned out to be a masterstroke.

The hosts reduced the margin in the 57th minute as Ndem converted a penalty.

Buoyed, they upped the ante with veteran midfielder Basudeb Mondal playing a pivotal role in the midfield. Man-of-the-match Mondal not only restored parity with a pile-driver in the 69th minute, but also initiated some excellent moves with his incisive passing.

Sporting went into the lead in the 74th minute with substitute Raman Vijayan striking. It seemed it would make the difference. But Air India refused to cave in. They mounted pressure on the opposition defence.

The game became an end-to-end stuff in the last quarter and the visitors equalised through Bashiree Abbas in the 82nd minute. He took advantage of a misunderstanding between goalkeeper Gopal Das and central defender Madhab Das and pounced on the opportunity.

Bhattacharjee would have to reorganise his defence if he would like to go any further in the competition. The result saw Sporting move to seven points from nine matches, while Air India reached 12.

''I admit our defence did play well today and this is a serious cause of concern. But we have a few days break and I hope I can set things right,'' Bhattacharya said after the match.

Meanwhile, thanks to IFA's negligence, both teams were deprived of their post-match refreshments. The IFA officials, when asked about it, said, ''There was never a rule in this regard. Players have been offered refreshments as a convention.'' UNI