A last-gasp Neeraj Singh’s goal from a penalty broke the hearts of a gritty Accountant General’s Office Recreation Club (AGORC) side and gave Army Service Corps (ASC) and Centre a 2-1 win in the BDFA Super Division league at the Bangalore Football Stadium here on Wednesday.
Neeraj buried the penalty in second half stoppage time after midfielder Thirunavukarasu had been brought down by AGORC defender Ravinder Singh inside the area, leaving referee Lawrance with no choice but to point to the spot.
The result helped the army side get back to the winning ways after suffering a 6-0 humiliation against South United in their previous encounter.
It also puts them third in the points table, with 13 points from six games, below MEG, who have a game in hand. AGORC are seventh, with four points from as many matches.
The army men found themselves behind after just 12 minutes when striker Dada Nabeel made a late run into the box and got on the end of a superb cross from forward Janakiram on the right flank.
Going behind seemed to have woken up the army side as they launched a barrage of attacks, but a combination of excellent defending and several stops from goalkeeper Naresh kept AGORC ahead.
In the 41st minute, Naresh produced a wonderful save to deny ASC forward Jotin Singh from few yards out, after he had directed a fine cross from midfieder Sreejith KP, towards the net. Jotin came close again in the 44th minute, when his diving header off a cross from Sreejith, rattled the bar.
ASC kept up the pressure in the second period but couldn’t get past the resolute AGORC defence until the 81st minute when defender Sonu smashed the ball into the net after finding himself with plenty of space inside the box.
Earlier in the ‘A’ Division, Sports Authority of India (SAI) thumped Bangalore United 6-0.
A hat-trick from Deep Majumdar (19th, 75th, 79th) coupled with a brace from C Singh (1st, 33rd) and a goal from Suresh Singh in the 10th minute settled the tie in their favour.