Call it a grudge match or home-turf advantage, but Air-India reigned supreme in their 4-2 victory over Namdhari XI in their Mumbai Super League super division match on Tuesday.
And the players who spoilt the Namdhari’s last match party were none other than their former players. Gurvinder Singh Chandi, who played for Namdhari for a few months before joining the junior India camp, had a big hand in the airmen’s first goal and Harshpreet Singh then firmly pushed the ball in to sound the boards. Then 19-year-old Chandi added to the lead while he was on the run in the 23rd minute.
Despite an early goal, after they converted their third penalty corner in the 12th minute by Malak Singh, Namdharis struggled to keep the ball in their half. And in the 26th minute when the airmen’s most experienced forward Gavin Ferreira walked in, the balance tilted firmly towards the airmen’s side.
Ferreira took charge on the field and started distributing the ball well to deny his young rivals any chance. The airmen used all weapons in their armoury to unsettle the Namdhari players and due to one such incident, play was held up for five minutes before the lemon break.
Namdhari coach, Didar Singh ordered his players to leave the field after umpire Danny Kinny let off Air-India’s Sachin Kumar with a green card after the player brought down Karamjit Singh. Didar was furious, alleging the umpire had been too lenient with the airmen even when serious fouls were being committed on his players, some them pretty blatantly. It took some pacifying from the technical bench to convince Didar get his boys to take the field again.
The second half too started on a good pace and former international Girish Pimple continued his good form in the tournament by sweeping the ball from inside the ‘D’ for a goal. And soon four minutes later, Dilbaug Singh dribbled past four Namdhari defenders to give his team a 4-1 lead. Namdhari XI were awarded six penalty corners in the second half but they failed to convert any of them. In the 50th minute, Karmjit Singh reduced the margin to 2-4.
Airmen’s coach, AK Poonacha after a lot of prodding agreed that they played a hard game as it was a must-win situation for them to level the scores between the two teams. The airmen had gone down to Namdhari XI a few months ago in Chennai and therefore they wanted to go all out. The team was well-rested and looked fit as they outshone the Namdhari fowards while showcasing their skills in a scintillating first half packed with pace and power-play. The two teams matched each other in terms of skills and speed but when it came to experience, the young Namdharis got beaten.
Coach Poonacha was impressed with Chandi’s game and said that his international exposure had helped him. Chandi, who captained the junior team to Germany last month said: “I’ve improved quite a lot in man-to-man marking and switching since the Germany tour.”