The final of 126th Durand Cup football tournament will be between ONGC and Mohammedan Sporting on Thursday at Ambedkar Stadium, New Delhi.
ONGC defeated Indian Navy by 1-0 in the second semifinal to book a berth in the final. Henry Ezeh's goal in the 53rd minute was the difference between the two teams in a match where chances came at a premium.
Indian Navy was the team that took the initiative in the first half. Their brilliant passes and movements in and around the ONGC players were spectacular to watch.
Even though, Indian Navy had greater possession and passed the ball better, the two best chances of the half fell to ONGC.
Henry missed a sitter after some brilliant work by Lovino Fernandes on the left wing while goalkeeper Bhaskar Roy made an amazing save to deny Henry again.
The second half was a much more open game as both teams looked for the opener. And it was the Nigerian striker who came to the rescue of his team. Lovino who was a constant threat down the wings again troubled the Indian Navy back four.
His cross found Henry but Bhaskar came out to meet the ball, and in a goalmouth melee, Henry managed to scramble the ball in.
Indian Navy did their best to find the equalizer but resilient defending by ONGC, especially their Nigerian center-back Adedla Hassan, denied Indian Navy any clear chances.
However, there was a twist in the tale 12 minutes from time as defender Karan Atwal was sent off after receiving his second yellow card of the match.
Indian Navy, though, failed to take any real advantage of being a man up. Instead in their hunt for the equalizer they left big gaps at the back but a tired Henry missed a couple of gilt-edged chances.
Mohammedan Sporting had already entered final beating Mumbai Tigers in the Monday's first semifinal.
(with inputs from IANS)
|
|
Comments:
