East Bengal rout Punjab Police

Champions East Bengal began the defence of their title in style, beating debutants Punjab Police 3-1 in the sixth National Football League, at the Guru Gobind Singh stadium in Jalandhar, on Wednesday.

Even in defeat, the cops from Punjab, who had never been exposed to professional club soccer, walked out of the ground with their heads held high. Their goalkeeper, Satish Kumar, not only won the hearts of the spectators but also received a pat from the experienced I M Vijayan after the match.

For the winners, Juley Musah netted in two goals, while Vijayan scored the third.

For Punjab Police, Parveen Kumar scored the lone goal.

The defending champions were in for a shock, when in the second minute of play the cops launched an attack from the right flank with Sher Singh sending a cross for Parveen Kumar, who neatly trapped the ball and sent in a powerful hit to the left of the East Bengal custodian Sangram Mukherjee. The ball sailed into the net to the disbelief of the East Bengal defence to give the cops a 1-0 lead.

Shocked by this goal, the defending champions went into the attack but the Punjab Police defence held them at bay and when they did succeed in taking a shot at the goal, it was custodian Satish Kumar who brought off many a specatular save.

Desperate for the equaliser, Vijayan, from the mid-field, and Musah, from the deep defence, moved up to attack the cops citadel. In the 20th minute, Musah found the net off a Vijayan pass to equalise.

Tied at 1-1 at half-time, East Bengal made a number of raid through Bijen Singh and Isiaka Aowemy. In the 59th minute, the cops' custodian Satish Kumar dived to his left to bring off a spectacular save off a Bijen shot and minutes later he brought off another save off a shot from Omolaja Olalekan.

In the 60th minute, the cops had a chance to take the lead but the shot by Dipak Kumar went wide much to the relief of the on-rushing East Bengal custodian.

It was in the 70th minute of the game that Musah scored his second goal when he headed in a corner shot to give his side the lead and bring an element of relief to the East Bengal bench.

Thereafter, the defending champions did take a number of shots at the rival defence but Satish Kumar, despite a head injury sustained during the first half of the match, brought off one save after another.

In the dying stages of the game, Vijayan headed in from a corner to make it 3-1 and put the defending champions in a comfortable position.

National Football League summary