Dempo rout Air India 4-1, Renty man of the match

Mapusa, Apr 9 (UNI) Riding on Renty Martin brace, defending champions Dempo came from behind to crush Air India (Mumbai) 4-1 in the second leg of the ONGC Cup National Football League (NFL) match here today.

For the winners, goals came through Isfaq Ahmed in the 33rd minute, Renty Martin in the 76th and 88th minute minute and Robert Mendes D Sillva in the 79th minute.

While Air India's lone goal came in the 26th minute through Bashiru Abbas.

Dempo who enjoyed more ball play in the first half came up with couple of good moves in the 17 and 19 minutes but Clifford Miranda failed to connect.

Air India accelerated the pace of their game and drew first blood in the 26th minute through Bashiru Abbas, who collected a ball and dodged past couple of rival defender and also deceived Goalkeeper Abhijit Mondal to shoot into the net (1-0).

Shocked by an early debacle, Dempo bounced back into play and restored parity in the 33rd minute through Isfaq Ahamed, who after collecting a well measured pass from Robert Mendes D Silva (Beto) from the left flank and banaged into the goal.(1-1) Inspired by the equaliser, Dempo continued to attack and could have increased their lead five minutes before the half time but Isfaq Ahmed's full blooded shot fro a Beto pass bounced off rival custodian Sundar Rajan's hand and went wide.

After lemon break, Dempo grouped themselves well and mounted continued attack to increase their lead in the 76th minute through Renty Martin.(2-1) Three minutes latter in the 79th minute, Robert Mendes de Silva made it 3-1 in favour of Dempo.

The Goan outfit sealed Air India's fate in the 88th munite from a 4th goal through Renty Martin's brace. It was a fine move that saw Nascimento Silveira passing to substitute Joaquim Ambranches who in quick succession swithced over the ball to better planced Renty who made no mistake and his powered packed shot found the net, to make it 4-1.

Renty Martin was adjudged Man of the Match for his fine performance.

With this win, Dempo moved on to 5th place with 16 points from 11 matches relegating Mohammadan Sporting Kolkata to sixth place with 14 points from 12 outings.

While Air India Mumbai remained on same eighth placed with 13 points from 11 matches.

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