GUWAHATI, March 20 � Oil India Limited (OIL) Football Club emerged champions in the 4th edition of Airtel State Premier League.
In a close final match at the Nehru Stadium here today, OIL edged past Assam Rifles by the barest of margin. The match winning goal was netted by Jayanta Basumatary in the 21st minute.
It was however the Assam Rifles team which enjoyed distinct territorial supremacy and put OIL defenders in trouble most of the time. But due to some misunderstanding among the Assam Rifles defenders they had to concede the goal. Unmarked Jayanta, who was lurking inside the opponent goal area, found the ball when Rifles defenders Devender and D Mukhim made a mess. Jayanta kept his cool and gently pushed the ball home.
Assam Rifled attacker Haokip should have levelled the issue in the 30th minute but he failed to put the ball into an empty net. In the later part of the match, Manas Manjit Chetia missed the target off a Mintu Boro centre.
The momentum of the match increased in the second session as both the teams adopted attacking tactics from the initial stage. Rifleman Bulu Jigdung, who is also the skipper of the team, displayed superb technique in the second session and created several openings. He even missed the target from a point blank situation midway through the second session.
Jayanta Basumatary of OIL and his teammate Manas Manjit Chetia received the Best Player and Highest Scorer of the tournament awards respectively.
International footballers Gilbertson Sangma, Debashis Roy along with former State footballer Ramesh Phukan, Airtel officials Tridip Sarma, Anjali Chittaranjan were introduced to the players before start of the match. In the closing function, MLA Robin Bordoloi was present as the chief guest.
