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Dudu Omagbemi wins it for Salgaocar

Dudu Omagbemi (Salgaocar FC)

Dudu Omagbemi (Salgaocar FC)

A first-half strike from Dudu Omagbemi saw Salgaocar FC beat Mohammedan Sporting Club 1-0 in a Round 18 encounter of the Airtel I-League at the Saltlake Stadium on Saturday evening.

This is Mohammedan’s fourth straight defeat in the I-League and they remain only one point clear of rock-bottom Rangdajied United.

Mohammedan Sporting dominated possession in the early stages and had a few attempts but none of them troubled Salgaocar goalkeeper Karanjit Singh.

The hosts were guilty of giving away the ball cheaply at times and on occasion, Salgaocar nearly profited as Dudu played Darryl Duffy through but the Scotsman delayed and his shot was blocked.

The first real chance fell to Dudu and that too came from a Mohammedan mistake. Clifton Dias’ cross was cleared by Mehrajuddin Wadoo but only as far as Francis Fernades, who flicked on for Dudu and the Nigerian’s first-time shot on the turn was saved brilliantly by Luis Barreto.

A minute later though Salgaocar opened the scoring after another Mohammedan error. Left back Phoolchand Hembram lost possession and Francis Fernandes played Dudu through. Mehraj almost got back and stopped Dudu but the Salgaocar forward got the better of the Kashmiri and scored past Barreto.

Both teams hit the woodwork after that with first Mohammedan’s Israil Gurung being denied by the post after a lovely pass into the six-yard box by Syed Rahim Nabi and then Dudu’s left-footed half-volley struck the vertical following Duffy’s flick on.

Gurung and Dudu went close once each towards the end of the half as well with the Mohammedan Sporting player failing to hit the target after creating space for himself inside the box while the Salgaocar goal scorer forced another save from Barreto.

Just like the first half, Mohammedan saw plenty of the ball after the interval also but they struggled to create clear cut opportunities. Japanese striker Taro Hasegawa was also introduced but the crosses and set-piece deliveries of Mohammedan lacked accuracy.

Finally after the hour mark the Kolkata giants created a great opening as Josimar and Penn Orji combined successfully for the first time in the game. A lovely back-heel from Josimar sent Penn through on goal but the Nigerian failed to hit the target.

Just a few minutes later the woodwork saved Salgaocar as Manish Maithani’s header from a Gurung cross hit the bar. The Goan club were so focused in protecting their slender advantage that they hardly created anything at the other end.

Mohammedan Sporting put in plenty of crosses in the final ten minutes with Mehraj and Josimar wasting good opportunities but in the end Salgaocar held on and moved into the top four for 24 hours at least.

(Report & Picture courtesy AIFF Media)