Indian footballers hold Jamaica

The Indian footballers, preparing for the Busan Asian Games, battled admirably to hold Jamaica goalless in the second match of the 'Jam’In Series', organised by Sapphire Enterprises, at Wolverhampton, England, on Sunday.

The Jamaicans were easy 3-0 winners in the first meeting between the teams at Watford last week.

The second meeting too could have gone the same way had the Jamaicans not wasted some gilt-edged chances that came their way at Molineux, the home of English first division club Wolverhampton Wanderers. The slow build-up of the Jamaican attacks enabled the Indians to regroup and defend solidly.

The Indian goal had a let-off just before the break when the unmarked Kevin Wilson headed into the side netting following a cross from the right wing. Wilson attempted to atone for the miss early in the second half when he shot narrowly wide.

The first real shot on target came from Fabian Taylor but it was brilliantly saved by goalkeeper Rajat Ghosh Dastidar.

The Indians were well served in defence by Debjit Ghosh and Mahesh Gawli, while Omar Daley and Fabian Taylor were skillful midfield workers for Jamaica.

India: Rajat Ghosh Dastidar; Debjit Ghosh, Deepak Mondal (Manitombi Singh 46th minute), Mahesh Gawli, Samir Naik (Satish Kumar Bharti 79th minute); Jo Paul Ancheri, Shanmugam Venkatesh, Renedy Singh, Tomba Singh (Bijen Singh 62nd minute); Baichung Bhutia (captain), Abhishek Yadav (Praveen Kumar 74th minute).

Jamaica: Donovan Ricketts, Claude Davis, Marco McDonald, Ian Goodison, Fabian Dawkins (Damion Williams - 83rd minute), Christopher Jackson, Kirk Hendricks (Jonathan Williams - 72nd minute), Omar Daley, Fabian Taylor, Kevin Wilson (Roland Dean - 60th minute), Jermaine Anderson (Roen Nelson 32nd minute)

Referee: Mike Riley