State Bank of Travancore went down by a solitary goal against Tollygunge Agragami in a ninth National Football League match at Kolkata on Sunday.
Ghanaian Suley Musah scored the winning goal in the 28th minute from a pass by Surajit Bose inside the rival box. The foreigner kept his cool and slotted home with a crisp right footer through the far post.
With this win, Tollygunge improved their tally to 14 points while SBT remained on nine from 12 outings.
Conceding the goal against the run of play, the visitors scaled up the offensive and had almost scored an equaliser minutes before the breather, but for an easy miss by striker Asif Saheer.
Asif's header, barely three yards away from the goalline sailed just inches over the bar.
The game, which was played before empty stands of the Salt Lake stadium, saw a number of easy misses from close quarters with SBT far outweighing the hosts both in terms of ball possession and wasted opportunities to leave the field empty handed.
On one occasion, Abdul Hakkim grabbed a forward through and dodged past advancing rival goalie Arindam Ghosh.
But, instead of taking a shot at an empty goal, the SBT medio essayed a back centre which was easily cleared by Tollygunge defender Debkumar Sasmal.
Tollygunge also had their share of missed chances in both the sessions.
Akeem Abul Alem missed an easy chance as he shot out from an advantageous position inside the rival box.
Youngster Gouranga Datta created havoc in the SBT citadel, particularly in the second half, and unleashed a couple of power-packed shots narrowly saved by SBT custodian Harshal Rehman.
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