BANGALORE: ONGC emerged as the best team in the ONGC Second Division League as they edged past NISA, Manipur 1-0 in the last round match played at the KSFA Stadium, here on Tuesday.
The Mumbai outfit , who booked their maiden I-League berth after defeating Sesa Football Academy in their previous encounter, finished on top of the table with 19 points while HAL — the second team to get an I-League promotion — remained second with
16 points.
The Oilmen though could have scored couple of goals in the first half, but were denied by the woodwork each time. Sandeep Sangha came close to open the account for ONGC in the 10th minute but his shot clipped the woodwork while ten minutes later, Badmus Babatunde’s strike rattled the woodwork as well. Two minutes later, he was again denied from the top of the 18-yard box as his right footer was palmed away for a corner by NISA custodian Prem Kumar Singh as first half scoreline read 0-0.
ONGC dictated the terms in the second half also with Babatunde hitting the bull’s eye in the 79th minute. ONGC held on to their one-goal advantage to come out victorious.
Meanwhile, Malabar United finished their campaign on a winning note scoring a fluent 2-0 victory over Oil India in their last encounter at the KSFA Stadium.
Jacken Sebastian netted both the goals for Malabar as Kerala based side finished fifth with 10 points. The team has impressed everyone with their maiden attempt for a place in the
big league.
Malabar started the match aggressively and gave a perfect start to their proceedings notching up an early goal in the 7th minute. Jacken received a pass from the right flank and dodged past two defenders before placing his right footer to the far corner.
Malabar lurked around the opponent citadel for most of the first half and doubled their lead in the 35th minute, when Jacken’s scorcher from the top of the 18-yard box held its way to the right of Oil India custodian Prandeep Dutta. Oilmen did show some urgency to claw back into the match but a superb show by Malabar’s Siyas denied them on several occasions.
