Bungo Singh, R C Prakash steal the limelight

S Ayyappa Swamy

The 11th round of the fifth National Football League, which announced the halfway stage, was perhaps the best of the six-set matches so far. It had all the thrills and spills including a hat-trick, upsets and some outstanding football.

The thrills were provided by Bungo Singh, of Air-India, who got four-in-a-row against State Bank of Travancore, and R C Prakash, of Mohun Bagan, who scored his seventh goal to emerge the highest scorer at the halfway mark. More thrills came as Air-India slammed a record 6-1 against SBT.

The spills came when Mahindra United arrested the progress of former champions Salgaocar Sports Club, in Bombay; and the two toppers, East Bengal and FC Kochin played an exhilarating and entertaining goalless draw in Kochi.

East Bengal, one of the most consistent sides in the short history of the NFL and never to have won the title, have not looked back ever since their 1-0 win over traditional rivals Mohun Bagan in the seventh round. They came close to inflicting a first defeat on F C Kochin at the latter’s home ground on Tuesday, but honours were shared and there is just one point separating the two now.

East Bengal are on 26 while Kochin have 25.

Kochin’s unbeaten run equals the record of Air-India, who did not lose a single match for 11 rounds (9 in the first and 2 in second) in the second NFL, which had 10 teams only.

In the fifth NFL, which has 12 teams, Kochin have so far kept a clean slate and should easily break the record when they take on Tollygunge Aggragami in a home match on March 9.

However, they should guard against complacency for Air-India went on to finish sixth in the second edition and were relegated in the third.

Close behind, and in the 20s, is two-time and defending champion Mohun Bagan. Though the absence of Brazilian magician Jose Barretto -- due to two yellow cards -- made no difference to the side's fortunes in the 3-0 tenth round away win over Air-India, they only prospered on his return. He scored once and set up the other two goals as Mohun Bagan downed home tigers Vasco, Goa.

The Goan debutants earned this sobriquet after losing twice and drawing once on the three occasions they played outside their state. Coincidentally, all these matches were played in Calcutta. The defeats, both 0-3, came at the hands of East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, while they drew with 'draw specialists' Tollygunge Aggragami.

Bungo Singh's four goals against cellar-toppers SBT was an outstanding effort. It not only gave Air India three valuable points, but also lifted the morale of the team sky-high. Coach Bimal Ghosh had knitted eyebrows as his side played outstanding football without getting any goals. And, now, they have scored 10 in the last three matches. Yet, Air-India have a minus 2 goal difference, an anomaly which Ghosh hopes would be corrected soon.

After the loss to Mohun Bagan he effected some changes which saw the dependable Khalid Jamil being reverted to right wing-back from the midfield and Bungo Singh not in starting line-up. As is apparent, the ploy worked for Air-India, who next play JCT at home on Saturday.

Air-India's win is the third-best recorded in the history of the NFL, with Mahindra taking the first two spots. They beat ITI 6-0 in the third NFL and Dempo 7-1 in the fourth. The most number of goals in a match (8) came between Mahindra (7) vs Dempo (1) , and Dempo (5) vs. FC Kochin (3), in the second NFL. The record for the most number of goals in a match by an individual is held by Bhaichung Bhutia, who scored five, including a hat-trick, against Mahindra, in the inaugural NFL.

Id Mubarak said Mahindra United players to their coach Shabbir Ali as the Bombay league champions got the better of Salgaocar at home. Qualitatively, it was a poor match, with both sides unable to translate their midfield aggression into goals. All three goals came off defensive lapses as Raman Vijayan and Habib Adenkunle scored for Mahindra and Cowan Lawrence for the Goans.

The 11th round has indeed proved a good one for both Bombay sides.

The other two matches of the 11th round ended in goalless draws, with Churchill Brothers escaping with a draw against Tollygunge, in Calcutta, and JCT forced to drop two points in Ludhiana.

Best goal: Air-India’s Bungo Singh keeping his cool to hit over SBT goalkeeper Rajeev Kumar.

Best match: FC Kochin vs East Bengal. An exciting goalless draw in Kochi.

Disappointment: Salgaocar struggling for an amount of consistency.

Results of the 11th round:
JCT drew with ITI 0-0 at Ludhiana
Mohun Bagan lost to Vasco 0-3 at Calcutta
F C Kochin drew with East Bengal 0-0 at Kochi.
Tollygunge Aggragami drew Churchill Bros. 0-0 at Calcutta.
Mahindra United beat Salgaocar 2-1 at Bombay.
Air-India beat SBT 6-1 at Bombay.

The leading scorers of the fifth National Football League

7 - R C Prakash (Mohun Bagan)

5 - Bungo Singh (Air India)

4 - Igor Shkvrin (Churchill), Abdul Hakim (SBT), Anthony Fernandes (Air India), Sunday Seah and Jo Paul Ancheri (F C Kochin), Bruno Coutinho (Salgaocar), Jose Barretto (Mohun Bagan).

3 - Hardeep Gill (JCT), Kashimov Awazbek (Vasco), T S Anoj and Aaron Cole (F C Kochin), Climax Lawrence (Salgaocar), Dipendu Biswas and Omolaja Olalekan (East Bengal), Raman Vijayan (Mahindra).

2 - Ram Pal (JCT), Francis Silveira and edson de Crasto (Churchill), K V Dhanesh (ITI), Shabbir Ali (SBT), Manjit Singh and Habib Adenkunle (Mahindra), Khalid Jamil (Air India), I M Vijayan and Eugene Gray (F C Kochin), Denis Cabral, Alvito d'Cunha and Dharamjit Singh (Salgaocar), Suleh Musah, Dipankar Roy, Sukumar Singh (East Bengal), Abdullatheef Senki (Tollygunge), James Singh (Mohun Bagan).

Related reports:
FC Kochin lead National Football League race
F C Kochin stay ahead
Salgaocar close in on early leaders
Mohun Bagan well-placed after five rounds
Air India, Mahindra in a spot - Summary of Round 6
East Bengal high in the saddle - Summary of Round 7
East Bengal on top for second week - Summary of Round 8
Three in close race - Summary of Round 9
Prakash's hat-trick high point of Round 10