Mohammedan hold Air India 1-1 in ONGC I-League

Barasat, Sept 29: Powered by a Theodore Sunday goal in the second-half, Mohammedan Sporting came from behind to

hold Air-India 1-1 in their first round encounter of the ONGC I-League at the Vidyasagar Krirangan here today. In yet another dominance from the visiting team, the Air India took the first-half honours as Mohammedan Sporting, who had finished runners-up in the second division I-League to make the cut, paled in comparison. The Airmen surged ahead in the 22nd minute when Surajit Roy netted the ball to give Mohammedan Sporting some anxious moments. The goal was the result of well-organised move by Michael Tayo - Emmanuel Ovieghara with Roy turning out to be the finisher. Tayo was quick to spot a cross off Ovieghara in the right. Even though Tayo failed to capitalise on the pass, Roy was just on spot to net it home with a clinical finish. Mohammedan Sporting, visibly under pressure after the first goal, lost an easy chance early in the first-half. It was Sunday, who almost gave the Kolkata team the lead but his shot was deflected by Air India goalkeeper Aloke Debnath to give opponent coach Shabbir Ali some frustrating time. The Air India went into the break with solitary lead. Fresh from their impressive performance in the Calcutta Football League (CFL) Premier Division, Mohammedan Sporting quickly realised that it's a different battle altogether in the national league. Their mid-field comprising Jothi Kumar, Adebayo Adewusi, Sovan Chakraborty and Mir Farooq Hyder let the team down as their over dependency on their striking duo of Mike Okoro and Theodore Sunday, the CFL top-scorer, came to fore. Again the slippery ground condition did little to further Mohammedan Sporting's cause with Jothi Kumar slipping on more than one occasions. The second-half saw a much improved performance from the Kolkata team as their Sunday - Okoro duo seemed to have found their rhythm right, beginning to put pressure on the visitors. In the 59th minute, Sunday found himself well-positioned as the Air India defence just backed off. The foreign import does not miss the chance to bring on the equaliser for Mohammedan Sporting. Sunday's strike put pressure on Airmen, who slowly looked to lose steam but their coach Bimal Ghosh was very concerned about not conceding a further goal. Seeing Mohammedan attack is losing sting, Ghosh replaced their scorer Surujit with Vijith Sethy. The Teams: Mohammedan Sporting: Naseem Akhtar; Rajib Ghosh (Gautam Thakur 79'), Grupreet Singh, V Prem Kumar, Bijoy Das, Jothi Kumar, Adebayo Adewusi, Sovan Chakraborty, Mir Farooq Hyder, Mike Okoro, Theodore Sunday. Air India: Arup Debnath, Napoleon Singh, Chukwuma Udofia, Uttam Singh, Ravinder Singh, Soccor Velho, Michael Tayo, Syed Farid, Surujit Roy (Vijith Sethy 80'), Samson Singh (Subhas Singh 54'), Emmanuel Ovieghara. ONGC Man-of-the-Match: Adebayo Adewusi. Yellow Cards: Subhas Singh (70') (Air India). Referee: Francisco Fernandes (Goa). Bureau Report