A brace by Nigerian striker Edeh Chidi saw JCT, Phagwara, ground Air India 3-0 in a 14th round match of the 11th National Football League at the Guru Nanak stadium in Ludhiana on Wednesday.

Chidi scored in the 16th and 63rd minutes, while his striking partner, the prolific Sunil Chhetri accounted for the third goal in the 72nd minute.

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With this victory, the Punjab team swelled their tally to 21 points.

Air India, who were lying in the sixth place on the league table behind JCT, have 17 points.

Chidi and Chhetri wrecked havoc on the Air India defence and in the 16th minute the Nigerian slammed a low volley into the right corner of the net to give his side the lead.

Leading 1-0 at half-time, the local outfit increased their lead in the 63rd minute when Chidi collected a pass from Rennedy Singh and after dodging past two defenders slid the ball into the net past the Air India custodian.

In the 72nd minute, it was the turn of Chhetri to score off a pass from Chidi.

Chettri and Chidi, together have now scored 18 goals between them, the latter accounting for 10.

The Mumbai side was totally off-colour and never posed a threat to JCT.