Bhutia's goal earns India victory

An early Baichung Bhutia strike made all the difference as India huffed and puffed to get past a spirited Bangladesh 1-0 in the fourth match of the ONGC Nehru Cup football tournament in delhi on Monday.

The second successive victory put Bob Houghton's side on the path to the tournament final, but they will not be totally satisfied with their performance at the floodlit Ambedkar stadium.

The hosts had the perfect start when their captain put them ahead barely five minutes after kick-off but that turned out to be the lone goal in the mundane encounter between the neighbours.

Steven Dias's fluffed shot from the right edge of the box was trickling harmlessly past the far post, when Bhutia, ever the opportunist, turned it into a fortuitous pass and stabbed the ball home past Bangla custodian Biplab Bhattacharjee.

It seemed that India had started from where they left off in the 6-0 thrashing of Cambodia on Friday, but Bangladesh gradually got into the match and even dominated proceedings for some time.

Mohd. Zahid Hossain, Mohd Jahid Hasan Ameli and Mohd Abul Hossain constantly kept the Indian back four on their toes. Indian custodian Subrata Paul did his bit by coming to his side's rescue on at least two occasions. Once he acrobatically palmed away an Ameli header and then saved a powerful shot from Zahid. His display under the bar was enough to earn him the player of the match award.

More than 8,000 people witnessed the encounter and not even a half-time shower could dampen their spirits.

Even in defeat, Syed Nayeemuddin's side was not disgraced.

India upped the ante a bit in the second half and could have scored more goals had they converted the chances that came their way.

Local lad Sunil Chetri hit the upright with a long-ranger while N S Manju's chip was saved off the line.

Bhattacharjee again made a double save from Surkumar Singh and Chetri in the dying minutes of the match.

There was another potential worry for India as defender Deepak Kumar Mondal suffered a knee injury and had to be replaced by Syed Rahim Nabi in the second half. The injury did not seem too serious but would be looked at in detail on Tuesday.

The first half saw Bhutia and Chetri not always on the same page as far as the attacking moves were concerned. They were guilty of going it alone on several occasions without passing to each other which made the Bangladesh defenders' task easier. Their coordination, however, improved in the second period.

Houghton rang in the changes and brought on Clifford Miranda and Tarif Ahmed for Renedy Singh and Bhutia but India could not get the insurance second goals that would have calmed the nerves in the team.

With a second successive defeat today, Bangladesh, however, face an uphill battle in the tournament.

The two highest ranked team in the competition, Syria and Kyrgyzstan, go head to head tomorrow in a match that could influence the line-up for the final.