Bengaluru FC win maiden Durand Cup title, beat Mumbai City FC 3-1 in final
Kolkata, Sep 18: Bengaluru FC and their talismanic captain Sunil Chhetri won their maiden Durand Cup football tournament title after beating Mumbai City FC 3-1 in the summit clash at the Salt Lake Stadium here on Sunday.
Siva Sakthi (10th minute) and Brazilian Alan Costa (61st) scored for the winners while Apuia got the lone goal for the Mumbai side in an entertaining match.
The Blues took an early lead through a fifth tournament goal from Siva Sakthi.
The long ball was delivered from the deep by Jovanovic, which put Mourtada Fall under pressure with Siva on his shoulder. The Senegalese defender was in the end foxed by the bounce and Siva pounced on it with a measured chip over the keeper.
After Chhangte had the first chance for the Islanders in the 17th minute, they got the equalizer at the half-hour mark when Sandesh Jhingan gave away a free-kick in a dangerous zone.
Ahmed Jahouh played on Greg Stewart, who went on one of his runs and took a left-footed grounder towards goal which Gurpreet Sandhu fended off. Apuia was at hand though and tapped home the rebound with ease.
The Blues then almost went ahead in the 38th minute, when, off a Roshan Singh corner, a rebound fell for Roy Krishna and he shot towards goal, but Chhangte brought off a miraculous goal-line save.
Vinit Rai then had a chance after being played on by Stewart but shot over from close and the only other notable incident of the half was the match's first yellow card for Mourtada Fall, the Mumbai captain, who had a forgettable 45 minutes.
The game maintained its intensity in the second half. Five minutes after resumption, Jahouh delivered a measured long ball which fell for Chhangte who did well to get away from two BFC defenders, but with just the keeper to beat, the tournament's highest scorer shot over.
BFC then got ahead for the second and final time in the game, when off a Sunil Chhetri corner aimed at the far post, Brazilian Alan Costa jumped highest and nailed a header into the back of the Mumbai net.
The most notable chance for Mumbai in the second half came through Spanish midfielder Ripoll in the 77th minute when he went on a solo run from midfield and unleashed a booming drive which beat Gurpreet but struck the left upright and came back.
Chhetri also had a couple of golden opportunities to score, once in the 69th minute, when his left-footed strike missed the target and then again in the 87th when he was one-on-one with the keeper, but Lachenpa was up to it and brought off a great save.
With six minutes of time added on, Mumbai did give it one final shot and Greg Stewart came close in the 94th minute, but his effort was also just wide.
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Two officials booked in UP; for showing elderly man dead, missing file
Ballia (UP) (PTI): Police registered separate cases against a village development officer and an assistant accountant for showing an elderly dead and disposing of a file related to documents of staff, respectively, an official said on Thursday.
In the first case, an FIR has been lodged at Bhimpura police station against the then village development officer (secretary), Savita, on charges of falsely showing an elderly man as dead during a verification, leading to the stoppage of his old-age pension.
According to police, a case was registered on Wednesday, based on the complaint of Assistant Development Officer Siyar block, Manoj Kumar Singh, under Section 198 (public servant disobeying law with intent to cause injury to any person) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The complainant alleged that Umashankar, a resident of Govindpur Dubauli village, was shown dead despite being alive, resulting in the discontinuation of his pension.
District Magistrate Mangala Prasad Singh ordered the registration of a case against the verification officer, police said.
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Police are probing the matter, Rasra Circle Officer Alok Gupta said.
In a separate incident, an FIR has been registered at Ballia city Kotwali against Manish Kumar Ojha, assistant accountant at Kasturba Gandhi Residential Girls’ School, Belhari, under Section 316(4) (criminal breach of trust) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The case was registered based on the complaint of the District Basic Education Officer Manish Kumar Singh, police said.
According to the complainant, the assistant accountant had allegedly made files related to discrepancies in PAN cards of some teachers and staff working in government-run council schools in the district go missing.
Police officials said investigations are underway in both cases.
