ITI hold Bagan with
last-minute goal

Hardworking Syed Hussain produced a brilliant last-minute goal to help Indian Telephone Industries hold former champions Mohun Bagan to a 2-2 draw in a violence-marred National Football League match at the Salt Lake stadium in Kolkata on Friday.

The visitors were trailing till the dying minutes of an action-packed encounter, which saw some unruly crowd behaviour after Hussain fetched the equaliser at the stroke of the long whistle.

The draw dashed the home team's hopes of garnering full points and consolidating their position on the points table.

The Bangalore outfit shot into the lead as early as the second minute through Mike Okoro, but Abdulateef Seriki restored parity in the 30th minute.

The irrepressible Jose Barreto then put Bagan ahead from a penalty kick in the 40th minute to give the local giants a 2-1 lead at the interval. However, defender Hussain scored with a swerving free-kick from just near the box a minute from the final whistle to earn a draw for ITI.

After this drawn encounter, two-time champions Mohun Bagan have 29 points from 16 matches while ITI have logged 26 points from as many outings.

Police were forced to make a lathi charge to control a section of the home crowd which turned violent after ITI scored the equaliser. The spectators, incensed by the referee's decision to award a free-kick to ITI, also hurled brickbats and other missiles onto the ground.

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