Even after missing several open chances and scoring opportunities, Air India managed to pull out a 2-1 win against HAL, Bangalore, in the 19th round of I-League match at Balewadi Sports Complex here on Sunday.
Striker Henry Ezeh, who missed the encounter against Churchill Brothers due to a double booking, was seen in action and celebrated his comeback by opening the scoring in the 38th minute. The airmen doubled their lead in the first half injury time through Sandeep Sangha. Later, Hamza Jagaba reduced the margin in the 86th minute for the Bangalore side. However, that goal proved to be mere consolation.
Air India, who were looking to consolidate their position would have got the lead in the 30th minute if Bijoy Basfore’s cross from the right would have converted by Henry. Later in the 37th minute, HAL keeper P Pramod averted Sangha’s free kick. But the Basfore-Henry pair did the trick a minute later. A brilliant cross from Basfore was well finished by Henry to give Air India the lead. In the process, the striker suffered a minor injury but put his name in the scorer’s list.
In the first half injury time, Sangha finally managed to get his name on the score sheet. His kick from 20 yards was totally miscalculated by Pramod, as he was focusing on Henry’s moves. The ball curled in the air and found the back of the net, with the HAL players reduced to being mere spectators.
After switching sides, HAL got couple of good opportunities but Hamza wasted all of them. The Mumbai side was also guilty of missing several open chances. Sandesh Gadkari, who replaced Manjit Singh, wasted a golden opportunity from an one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper.
Hamaza’s goal came in the 86th minute and they could have scored a late equalizer but Malemnganba Meiti missed the target from a free kick by a few inches.
Air India are ninth in the table with 27 points from 19 matches, while HAL are at the bottom with just six points to their name.
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