HAL rally to hold Tollygunge

Spearheaded by a brilliant display from Kenneth Onu, Hindustan Aeronautics, Bangalore, staged a remarkable late rally to wipe out a two-goal deficit and hold Tollygunge Agragami 3-3 in a well contested match in the seventh National Football League in Kolkata on Wednesday.

Down 1-3 thirty minutes into the second-half, the visitors found the target twice within five minutes to snatch a vital point from Tollygunge at the near-empty Salt Lake stadium.

Onu not only scored a brace but was also instrumental in setting up the other goal by Satish Kumar to walk away with the man of the match cheque of Rs 5,000.

Srikanta Dutta, Moses Owira and Sujoy Dutta found the mark for Tollygunge, who now have 22 points from 16 outings.

HAL, who are dangerously placed in the relegation zone, have only eight points after playing the same number of matches as Tollygunge.

The match, which went into half-time with the two teams tied 1-1, livened up in the second session as four goals came within a space of 23 minutes.

HAL, however, were reduced to ten men for the last three minutes after defender Parmeswaran was given marching orders by referee Manuel Pereira on receiving his second yellow card of the match for a foul on Asim Biswas. Parmeswaran had earlier been booked in the first-half.