Madras Engineering Group (MEG) continued their winning run, scoring a comfortable 2-0 win over Karnataka State Police (KSP) in the Super Division football league at the Bangalore Football stadium here on Thursday.
After a barren first half, the Sappers rode on goals from Girish VK (58th) and Nguernilal Hmar (70th) to register their fourth win from as many matches.KSP, who suffered their first defeat of the season, now have ten points from five matches with three victories and a draw.
Though MEG enjoyed the lion’s share of possession, Sappers failed to convert their dominance into goals in a lively first half. The closest they came to scoring was in the 23rd minute, when Suraj Singh’s right-footer from an acute angle on the right was saved by KSP custodian Nagendra. Nagendra had earlier been involved in a nasty collision with MEG’s Lokeshwar Singh, forcing play to be stopped for a while and an ambulance to be kept in readiness for the custodian to be taken to hospital. However, Nagendra recovered quickly and stayed on the pitch for the rest of the match.
Totally against the run of play, KSP almost went ahead in the 42nd. MEG goalkeeper Sujith fumbled a cross from KSP skipper Pradeep BV, which fell into Kiran Kumar’s path. The latter’s powerful right-footer was blocked on the goalline by MEG captain Suman Kumar before Vineet K cleared the ball out of danger.
To MEG’s credit, they made most of the opportunities in the second half, converting them to pocket three points, while KSP hardly looked threatening. MEG’s first goal came after a neat build-up from the left wing before Ajiraj Philip relayed a cross to Girish, who outjumped two defenders to head home.
Nagendra kept KSP in the hunt, diving full length to his right to thwart a long-ranger from Vineet. But Nagendra was left stranded in the 75th when Hmar put the tie beyond the reach of KSP with a left footer.
Other result: ‘A’ Division: Students Union: 5 (Arun 7th, 77th, 79th; Abubakar 26th, Philips 75th) bt Government Press: 0.