Omagbhemi brace as Sporting Clube beat Air-India

A two-goal blitz by Nigerian Dudu Omagbhemi enabled Super Cup winners Sporting Club de Goa beat Air-India (Mumbai) 3-1 and earn full points from the ONGC Cup 10th National Football League match, at the Nehru stadium in Fatorda, Goa, on Wednesday.

Omagbhemi, who was later declared man of the match, scored in the 67th and 69th minutes.

The Goa team's other goal was scored by Bibian Fernandes in the injury minute of the second half.

For Air India, the lone goal came from Nepolian Singh, in the 40th minute.

With this victory, Sporting Clube took their tally to five points from three outings, while Air India remain at the bottom without a point to their credit after two matches.

In an evenly balanced first session, Air India came near scoring in the 20th minute, but Paresh Shivalkar's long range shot was smartly fisted over by Sporting's goalkeeper Luis Baretto.

Air India drew first blood in the 40th minute through by Nepolian Singh following a wall pass from Narendra Meetei. Singh hit a full-blooded shot which beat goalkeeper Baretto.

Three minutes before the breather, Omagbhemi sent a fine cross to Nicholas Rodrigues, whose header went straight into the hands of the Air India goalkeeper Sundar Rajan.

Trailing by a goal at the breather, Sporting Clube played with renewed vigour as Omagbhemi and Edeh Chidi tore open the visitors' defence repeatedly and held complete sway over the proceeding in the second half.

In the 49th minute, Meetei gave a pass to Chidi whose header missed the mark by a whisker. Then, in the 65th minute, Adebayo Adewasi shot wide from a Chidi pass.

Sporting restored the parity in the 67th minute through Omagbhemi, who, after collecting a pass from David Suresh, dodged past a defender and bulged the net. 1-1.

Within a couple of minutes, Omagbhemi scored his second goal in similar fashion to make it 2-1, again on a pass from Suresh.

Sporting put the last nail into Air India's coffin in the first minute of injury time when Bibian Fernandes to make it 3-1.

The rival goalkeeper failed to collect a shot from Chidi and Bibian, who was lurking inside the goal area, pounced upon the opportunity and shot home.