Wisdom’s brace in Viva’s win

Wisdom Abbey fine brace aided his team Viva Kerala to score a convincing 3-2 win over spirited Air India with the last half-an-hour of the game provided some great entertainment to the handful of crowd that saw five scintillating goals in the tenth round exchange of the ONGC I-League played at the Corporation Stadium here on Thursday.

The win put an end to Viva Kerala's three-match losing streak, as it was Viva's first win after beating Salgaocar at the same venue nearly a month ago. Viva had drawn with Sporting Clube de Goa and lost to Churchill Brothers, JCT and Dempo since then.

Wisdom again came to fore for his team as he did the bulk of work and scoring for Viva. The Ghanaian striker struck twice to take his tally to five goals in the league. Viva's other goal was a gem scored by skipper Khelemba Singh on a free-kick.

After this loss, the Mumbai outfit has a very feeble prospect of surviving in the ongoing league. Air India now has eight points from 10 matches and placed at ninth position among the 10 teams while Viva has 12 points, in the same number of outings, remains in the seventh place.

Air-India twice managed to equalise through African imports Bashiree Mohammed Abbas and Suley Musah but couldn't be able to clinch a win. The first half produced some listless and drub affair from both the sides. But the latter half turned into an electrifying encounter with both the teams getting numerous goals scoring chances.

The second-half saw five goals as Viva broke the deadlock and surged ahead in the 52nd minute after Wisdom headed home on C.S. Saleel's precision cross. Three minutes later, Bashiree made it 1-1 on a rebound off the bar, following a failed attempt by Paresh Shivalkar.

Viva regained the lead in the 63rd minute through a stunning 40-yard free-kick taken by skipper Khelemba, who was later named Man of the Match. The goal was one of the most remarkable goals of the I-League thus far.

Air-India restored parity again in the 68th minute through Suley after he found the nylon with his thumping header on a corner taken by Nirmal Chettri.

Wisdom again put Viva 3-2 ahead, seven minutes before the final whistle, which later turned out to be the match winner in the end.