Locking Sports Authority of India for a goalless draw, promoted side Hindustan Eagles earned their first points of the ST Joseph’s-Chennai Football Association Senior Division League at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Monday. The inaugural match of the season was hardly a thrilling fare, but it set the tone that teams are willing to fight out for every point.
SAI were the marginal favourites, given their experience in the senior league and their creative disposition upfront. The likes of S Rajeevan, H Ameerudeen and Mijo Jose are expected to deliver not less than a goal. On more than an occasion, Rajeevan intruded through the Eagle’s territory, but the finishing touch was largely mislaid. A sharper lay-off, a better through ball or shrewder anticipation would have paid dividends.
The closest they came to testing Eagles’ custodian R Sreeraj was through headers in the latter half. Centre-back Wayne Antonio D’Silva headed the ball down off a corner, but Sreeraj had already made the sufficient adjustments to parry the ball. Soon after, Ameerudeen headed wide a meaty cross from Radhakrishnan.
Earlier in the half, Ameerudeen had fluffed an opportunity from close range. So did A Vijaya Prabhakaran from a wider angle. Though he had ample time to place his shot, he hastened it with neither power nor placements.
However, for all their lack of imagination and innovation, the best chance of the match went the Eagles’ way. Jacken Sebastian caught a scot-free Christian Taylor with a delightful through ball—a rare instance of Eagles’ goal-scoring intent in the opening half—but the latter’s furiously powerful attempt soared beyond the athletics track.
The SAI defence, corner-stoned by Wayne D’Silva, was organized and kept Eagles’ attackers on a leash. But if only Eagles’ weren’t over-zealous in their reliance on Taylor, they could have had the most auspicious start to the senior-division stint.
Result: First Division: Income Tax 2 bt RBI 1.