NEW DELHI, January 4: Mahindra and Mahindra's (M&M) strategy to pack their defence and rely on counter-attacks bore fruits as the Mumbai outfit edged past JCT (Phagwara) 1-0 in their Philips National Football League away match at the Ambedkar Stadium today. Herbert Philip struck the vital blow midway through the first-half.Mahindras' match winner came against the run of play. Santosh Kashyap's long clearance from inside the Mahindras half found Hari Khadka, who headed the ball inside the JCT box. With JCT defender Musa Aliu out of position, goal-keeper Arvind Kumar rushed to collect the ball, but he was a trifle late as Philip lobbed over him into an empty net.
If the defenders won the match for Mahindras, Abdullatif Siriki, JCT's main striker in the absence of injured Emeka Achilefu, lost the game for his team. The defending champions would rue the chances striker Siriki missed in the second session -- which made all the difference in the final analysis.Siriki was a misfit in the JCT scheme of things
today, and the first miss was a blunder. Manjinder ran in from the right and centered to Sukhdev Singh who lobbed over an onrushing Mahindras custodian Gumpe Rime. Siriki charged in only to head out the goalward-bound ball.
JCT coach Sukhwinder Singh agreed that Musa's mistake led to the goal. He was seen shouting at Musa several times during the match, to rush back into position. ``If Siriki had have scored, that goal would not have mattered. It is a big setback, but I'm sure my boys will make some other team pay for it,'' the JCT coach said.
Mahindras's coach Deryk de Sousa had promised to go all out prior to the match, and the change in strategy seemed baffling. However, he explained later that his mid-fielders especially the TFA recruits Abhay Kumar, Andrew Louis and Satish Minz ``have the penchant to play too fast.'', which had proved counter-productive in the earlier matches.''
The answer to the coach's problems was Kashyap who showed good anticipation to slow down the game and help Mahindras
control the mid-field, especially in the first session.
JCT never seemed to settle into a rhythm and whenever they did, lack of finish pushed them down. They rarely looked threatening inside the rival's box. With Achilefu injured and Jasbir Singh yet to recover from a knee operation, the spotlight was on Siriki -- who failed to deliver. Besides, left-winger Ram Pal also started after a long lay off due to injury.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
