KOLHAPUR: In an entertaining round 13 encounter, Air India and Salgaocar Sports Club dished out a 1-1 draw played at Sahu Maharaj grounds at Kolhapur on Thursday. In an action-packed first half, both the teams got equal opportunities to score but failed to get the finishing act right. In the 20th minute of the match, Air India midfielder Sukhvinder Singh took a shot which just missed the post by a whisker.
Also Manjit Singh and Okorogor Praise were unable to score off the free-kicks in the 38th and 40th minute of the first half. It seems injury has been never ending story for Air India as they received another injury blow when their second goalkeeper Kunal Sawant fractured his wrist in an attempt to save the ball in the 25th minute and will be out of action for almost three to four months.
Air India Coach Santosh Kashyap though felt that his replacement Avijit Ghosh didn’t get time to settle down in the match and that led to the team not being able to win the tie which they could have won.
Salgaocar’s Yusuf Yakubu put his side ahead in the injury time (45+4’) of the first session, when he found the target through his header. Air India’s defence though played their part as despite trailing by a goal, they didn’t allow Salgaocar strikers to consolidate on their one goal advantage.
Okorogor Praise restored parity, scoring the equaliser in the 79th minute to help his team snatch a crucial point from the home match. After getting a cross from the left side from Collin Abranches, Okorogor tapped the ball in with ease.
But the worries for Air India just seem to be mounting as after getting a yellow card in the 55th minute, Dhanachandra Singh was once again booked in the referee’s book in the 85th minute and was ejected out of the field. The Manipuri defender will miss the all important tie against Mumbai FC on February 13.
Air India Coach Santosh Kashyap said, “It’s good that after conceding a goal we came back and scored the equaliser. I am happy that we got one point from the match, but a win could have done wonder as we are playing good and coming well each match. I feel that after Kunal’s injury, Avijit didn’t get time to settle down.”
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