Finally, a win for Dempo

Margao: Dempo Sports Club won themselves some breathing space after putting it across Shillong Lajong FC 3-0 for their first win in the Indian Football League (IFL) at the Nehru Stadium, Fatorda on Tuesday.

Without a win in six matches and evidently at serious risk of continuing in the relegation zone, Dempo were finally clinical up front as goals from Marcus Joseph (6th minute), Saveme Tariang (own goal, ‘24) and Richmond Kwasi (‘55) gave the five-time national league champions some respite. They are still not out of the relegation zone, but with two games still left to be played in the first phase, they are ninth, just two points behind sixth-placed Chanmari FC and Gokulam Kerala.

Despite the defeat, it’s not easy to understand how Lajong are fourth on the table with 11 points. Playing with an all-Indian squad, they were lively against Dempo, made the experienced campaigners chase shadows with some intricate passing but lacked maturity in front of goal.

The 90-minute clash was decided in just one defining minute.

In the 24th minute, Lajong went from almost scoring an equaliser, after going down to an early Joseph goal, to conceding another one, effectively ending the match as a contest.

First, the gilt-edge chance. Lajong defender had done brilliantly well from his own half to slice through the Dempo defence where Everbrightson Sana Mylliempdah thought he had scored, only to see the ball pushed out, thanks a last-ditch tackle from Aubin Kouakou.

Goalkeeper Ashish Sibi took a routine goal-kick which landed at the feet of Saiesh Bagkar after being headed over by Joseph. The winger did what is expected of wingers: sidestep his marker and cross inside the box. The cross seemed innocuous, but Lajong goalkeeper Siwel Rymbai’s push hit defender Tariang and sailed into the net.

The goal gave Dempo a 2-0 advantage and a strong foothold in the game.

Early in the game, Joseph provided Dempo the lead, turning away from his marker on top of the box to finish brilliantly past the diving goalkeeper.

In the second half, there was no stopping Dempo. The home team scored another one in the 55th minute after the keeper brought down Bagkar, who had done well to beat the offside trap to meet a through ball from Richmond.

Richmond himself stepped up for penalty duty and converted with ease.

Dempo could have scored more. Damian Perez and Sebastian Guiterrez came close to scoring from inside the box. The first attempt was blocked and the other sailed agonisingly wide, but unlike previous matches, the missed chances did not matter.