JCT surprise Tollygunge

Cellar team JCT Mills, Phagwara, came from behind to prevail over local challengers Tollygunge Aggragami 2-1 in the fifth National Football League, at the Rabindra Sarovar stadium, in Calcutta, on Saturday.

After a barren opening session, the Punjab outfit conceded the first goal but turned tables on the home team with two strikes within three minutes through medio Jaswinder Singh and forward Hardeep Gill to take full points.

In a match that seldom rose to great heights, Tollygunge were a pale shadow of themselves in the opening session but took control of the game in the 65th minute with striker Emeka Achilefu producing a superb goal after fellow striker Abdulateef Seriki had done all the spadework.

Seriki dodged past a host of defenders before passing to an unmarked Emeka, inside the box, who found the net with a crisp volley, giving no chance at all to the JCT custodian Arvind Kumar.

But the euphoria was shortlived as the visitors found the equaliser eleven minutes later through the hard-working Jaswinder Singh before Hardeep Gill sealed the fate of the home team in the 79th minute.

With this surprise victory, JCT, who are trying to avoid relegation, have 19 points from 20 encounters while Tollygunge remained static on 23 from 21 matches.