Salgaocar take full points from SBT

Salgaocar Sports Club beat a fighting State Bank of Travancore 2-0 in their ninth round match of the National Football League at the Nehru stadium, in Margao, Goa, on Monday.

Salgaocar, who played cohesive game in the first half but lost their way in the second, scored through striker Alex Ambrose in the 10th minute and Jules Alberto in the 14th.

SBT made series of raids with swift quick short passes, especially in the second half but lacked ideas inside the box and failed to beat rival goalkeeper Ali Abubakar, who denied goals to Ashif Saheer, substitute Abdul Noushad and Ignatious.

Even the woodwork came to Salgaocar's rescue, when Ashif Saheer's shot hit the inner edge of the crossbar and rebounded into play.

Salgaocar, who had more of the exchanges in the first half, drew first blood in the tenth minute. Christian Okoye, playing after a long injury lay-off, controlled the midfield keeping the upfront busy with long passes into the vacant space and put a forward pass into the box, where a misunderstanding between defender Vinay Kumar and Xavier saw Alex Ambrose pouncing on the loose ball.

Ambrose took a few steps and sent a nice placement into the net, beating 'keeper Feroz.

SBT retailated and made a counter move, initiated by Sabir Ali from the centre. He relayed the ball to Hakkin, on the right, who in turn laid a pass to Ashif Saheer, whose shot hit the crossbar and rebounded into play.

Jules Alberto increased the lead minutes later.

The Goans held on grimly to the two-goal cushion to pick full points.