Punjab Police earns a creditable draw

Our Sports Reporter

MALDA, APRIL 19. The bad run for fancied teams continued on Thursday when West Zone topper Dempo SC, Margao was held to a goalless draw by Punjab Police at the DSA Stadium here in the final phase of the II division National Football League.

Hindustan Aeronautic Limted (HAL), Bangalore had initiated the story of upsets beating South Zone champion Indian Bank, Chennai 4-0 on the opening day on Wednesday.

The final phase league positions have reached an interesting stage with HAL leading the table with three points from its win against the Chennai team. Dempo and Punjab Police are tied in the second spot with a point each while the bankmen are yet to open their account in the four-team affair.

The Jalandhar boys had all the reason to be elated for holding out aginst the flamboyant Goans. And for Dempo, it was the first breach in its all-win record (it won all nine matches in the preceeding two rounds of the tournament).

Dempo's fall from glory thus drove home the point that it is always suicidal under-estimating the opponent. All the tactical accomplishment of the Goa team fell flat against the tough playing Punjab boys, whose profeciency in defending kept the scoreboard clean all through the stipulated 90 minutes.

Tactically, Dempo enjoyed the superiority commanding most of the midfield operations but all that exercise was jinxed inside the striking zone as the policemen kept a thorough vigil.

Snap tackles and first-time clearences in the back and occasional forays on the conter-offensives typified the effort from Punjab Police.

Dempo coach, Armando Colaco, appeared sore with his boys' ``over- confidence'' which he thought was one of the prime attributes behind the team's setback. He added the players had to endure the heat traveling in sleeper-class in a long journey from Bhopal on train. ``The travel fatigue also had its toll on our preformance today,'' said the coach hoping that his boys will be fighting fit for the next outing against the table-topper HAL on Saturday.

A relieved Punjab Police coach Harwinder Singh said, ``our target was to steal some points from the opponent today. We succeeded in it and that goes to show our boys stuck to their task.'' Singh said that a cautious approach was necessary as two of the team regulars fell ill and ``we had to try two new players.'' He said things have now opened up for his team and the possibilities of qualifying did not appear remote.

Dempo rued the ineffectiveness of its Uzbekistan strike force in the forwards - Nikola Maksin and Arslem Talipov. With the team attaching so much importance to the two, their amateurish showing in the match on Thursday had the biggest effect on the team's fortunes.

Despite the two making a caricature of themselves in the opposition penalty area, Colaco persisted with the combination till the 65th minute. Levy Coelho was introduced (in place of Maksin) only when it became too evident that the Punjab Police deep defence - Balwinder Singh and Rajesh Kumar as the two stopper-backs and Swaran Singh and Gurjeet Singh on the flanks - had both the bulit and the alacrity to neutralise the two foreigners.

Coelho infused dynamism in the attack cutting into the Punjab defence on a few occasions but the finishing remained wayward with Talipov continuing his erratic shooting. Dempo earned a few opportunities but a tendency to hold the ball too long in front of the goalmouth foiled the chances.

Talipov shouldered a greater share of the crime messing at least five opportunities when he was located unmarked inside the opposition box. Apart from his 37th minute left-footer which came off the post his other efforts remained wide.

With presence of seasoned international Tejinder Kumar and Mario Soares as the central midfielders, Dempo had all the reason to be satisfied with the logistics. And the two central- halves played their parts well distributing passes all over the park but with a stuttering artilery on the front, the target was never hit.

Once each near the end of the two sessions, the Dempo citadel was in real threat of falling. On both occasions forward Sher Shingh created the oportunities for the Punjab team, fooling his opponents with his speed. But the Dempo custodian Francis Fernandes, was equal to the task and cleared the ball just as Sher Singh sent in his minuses for Sunil Kumar (in the 44th minute) and Parveen Kumar (in the injury-time).

Praveen Kumar presented a comical sight in the 87th miunute when Harjinder Kumar (replacing Gurpreet Singh in the midfield) released the former with a through-pass that cleared Dempo stopper backs - Stanley Colaco and Uzbek Shevchenko Mikola. But instead of the ball Praveen's boot went flying towards the goal diffusing all the possibilities of a crisis.

Friday is a rest day. Dempo will take on HAL in the third league match on Saturday.

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