JCT Mills, Air India in final

Aurangabad, Maharashtra, Sep 15 (UNI) JCT Mills, Phagwara, will lock horns with strong contenders Air India, Mumbai, in the final of the All-India Mayor's Trophy football tournament.

In the semis, played at the MGM today, JCT Mills scraped past Mohun Bagan Football Academy 2-1, while Air India trounced TFA XI, Jamshedpur 3-0.

Overnight rain put a damper on organisers' plans to have a dry pitch for the semis. The wet ground condition restricted the movements of footballers. The first semis between JCT Mills and Bagan Academy, which was expected to provide the thrills and frills, turned out to be a lacklustre one.

JCT Mills, however, didn't have to wait for long to get the all-important lead, as their striker Sunil Chhetri slotted the ball home in the seventh minute following a defensive lapse. In the second half, JCT Mills once again capitalized on a defensive lapse to increase the margin with the ever-agile Chhetri adding another goal to his tally (2-0). This was Chhetri's fourth goal in two matches.

The Bagan players stepped up the pace a bit when 15 minutes were still left for the match to be completed. And in the 88th minute, Sankar Oroan sent a powerful left-footer from top of the circle that beat the rival goalie all ends up (2-1).

In the other last four match, Air India went 1-0 up in the very sixth minute through Samson Singh. And in the 28th minute, their skipper Paresh Shivalkar found the target off a pass from Narendra Meetei, which was Paresh's third goal of the tourney.

Air India were sitting pretty with a brace at the breather. In the second half, they made it 3-0 when Samson scored off a rebound in the 67th minute to seal the fate of the Men in Yellow.

Tomorrow, Mohun Bagan Academy will take on TFA XI in a play-off match for the third place.

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