GUWAHATI, Sept 28 - With a thumping 4-1 victory against Assam Regimental Centre, Shillong, former champions Oil India Football Club marched into the final of the 66th Bharat Ratna Gopinath Bordoloi Trophy Football Tournament.
Before an almost empty gallery, Oil India were trailing till the 40th minute as ARC skipper N Rakesh put his team ahead in the sixth minute capitalising on a misunderstanding among the Oil defenders.
However, Milan Boro managed to restore parity in the 40th minute.
After changing sides, the complexion of the match totally changed as Oil India took complete control over the situation with better game plan. Tulya Das, the leading scorer of the tournament netted his team�s second goal in the 49th minute. After this goal the ARC defence was totally exposed as the fast moving Oil forwards with able support from the midfielders made repeated forays into their fort.
Mintu Boro made it 3-1 in the 63rd minute and finally the same striker completed the rout in the 72nd minute.
The margin could have been much bigger if the Oil forwards could convert few easy opportunities.
Oil defenders Sishuram Chutia, Jyotish Basumatary, Sunil Murmu and Deepjyoti Daimary did a splendid job as they hardly left any space for the ARC attackers in their striking zone. Their midfielders Rahul Das, Mandela Rongmei and Sirandeep Moran commanded the middle third of the pitch and as a result the team composition took a nice shape throughout the course.
On the other hand the ARC defenders Win Basumatary, L Chandramani and N Rakesh miserably failed to anticipate the movements of the Oil strikers and left enough space among themselves. Their goalkeeper R Puis was also not in good shape and was beaten on four occasions due to his poor anticipation.
Today�s match: (S/F) ASEB SC vs FC Green Valley.
