The youth side of the All India Football Federation, Pailan Arrows, proved a plucky lot when it downed 10-man ONGC FC 4-1 in a ninth round match of the I-League football here at the Salt Lake Stadium on Saturday.
Dipak Devrani, Holicharan Narzary, Milan Singh and Alwyn George found the target once each to help AIFF’s developmental side produce its biggest win in the season so far. Eric Brown fetched the consolation goal for ONGC.
For the Delhi-based ONGC this was the third consecutive occasion when it had to finish with 10 men. ONGC saw its defender Sandeep Sngha ejected in the seventh round against East Bengal while midfielder Katsumi Yusa was sent off in the eighth round against Mumbai FC.
On Saturday it was the turn of goalkeeper Prosenjit Ghosh, who was given the red card for a dangerous foul on Arrows forward Holicharan Narzary in the 54th minute.
Arrows went ahead in the ninth minute when Devrani nodded home a freekick. Eric Brown restored parity for ONGC off a fine long-ranger in the 21s minute but the former’s joy was short lived as Arrows restored the lead within three minutes. Narzary produced a fine solo effort to give the home side the lead.
Arrows earned a penalty when Ghosh fouled Narzary and was subsequently sent off. Captain Milan Singh scored from the spot to make it 3-1 for Arrows before Alwyn George nodded home the final goal in the 84 minute.
Arrows now has 14 points from nine matches while ONGC remains in relegation zone with 5 points from nine.
The results: At Kolkata: Pailan Arrows 4 (Dipak Devrani 9, Holicharan Narzary 26, Milan Singh 57-pen, Alwyn George 84) bt ONGC FC 1 (Eric Brown 21).
At Shillong: Lajong FC 0 drew with East Bengal 0.