Super Cup: Ranty hattrick wins it for Dempo!

The Indian football season proper kicked-off yesterday with the Super Cup which I-League title holders Dempo Sports Club won 3-1 against the Federation Cup champions East Bengal Club. Nigerian striker Ranty Martins Soleye was the hero of the day for the Goans scoring all of Dempo's three goals in a 15 minute hattrick, but which did happen over the two halves.

There were high expectations from the game, but it never rose to any great heights though four goals were scored. For Dempo it was their second Super Cup triumph for which the Goans received Rs 1 Million (10 lakhs) as prize money. Interestingly Dempo had won their first Super Cup title over two years ago at the same venue against the same opponent in East Bengal, the score then 1-0.

East Bengal initially continued their good run of form, dictating terms and try to go ahead early in the contest. They succeeded in the 23rd minute when a Penn Ikechukwu Orji left-footer from outside the box went into the goal past young Laxmikant Kattimani. But thereafter the Kolkata giants committed some easy mistakes to not only bring Dempo's back into the game, but actually gift them the match. And the culprit for the red-and-gold was teenage goalkeeper Jayanta Pal, who in recent Calcutta Premier Division matches had shown his immense talent, but today he looked shaky throughout, maybe overawed by the occasion of a big match.

Dempo got the equaliser in the 34th minute when Jayanta and Sunil Kumar collided with the keeper unable to collect the ball and Ranty Martins Soleye was there to slot home. Only five minutes later Jayanta couldn't collect or properly clear an Ogba Kalu Nanna shot with Ranty lurking around to give Dempo's the lead. It stayed 2-1 at the break, but only four minutes into the second session Ranty would score his third to seal the match in favour of Dempo SC. This time the East Bengal defence was slow to react and an alert Ranty would score off a pass from Peter Carvalho.

It was 3-1 after only 49 minutes and East Bengal didn't really look as threathening as in the past few months as only a shot from substitute striker Tolgey Ozbey would worry Dempo keeper Laxmikant Kattimani. It stayed 3-1 for Dempo, who will take this win into the I-League starting in a couple of days. On the other side it will be interesting to see how Trevor Morgan's boys react to the second loss of the season ahead of the main aim, the I-League.


MATCH STATS

Dempo SC: 33-Laxmikant Kattimani; 5-Marcus Peixito, 3-John Charles Dias, 23-Dominic Noronha, 2-Debabrata Roy; 6-Peter Carvalho, 12-Ogba Kalu Nanna (20-Micky Fernandes), 22-Nicolau Borges, 30-Joe Rodrigues, 9-Ranty Martins Soleye, 29-Clifton Gonsalves (7-Godwin Diego Franco)
Substitutes: 21-Luis Xavier Barreto, 19-Johnny D'Cruz, 26-Covan Lawrence, 27-Cavin Lobo, 43-Jessel Carneiro

East Bengal Club: 31-Jayanta Pal; 33-Saikat Saha Roy (8-Thokchom Naoba Singh), 16-Gurwinder Singh, 5-Sunil Kumar Thakur, 2-Ravinder Singh; 11-Sanju Pradhan, 14-Mehtab Hussain, 17-Sushanth Mathew, 18-Penn Ikechukwu Orji (46' 9-Alvito D'Cunha); 23-Robin Singh, 35-Budhiram Tudu (46' 20-Tolgey Ozbey)
Substitutes: 24-Sandip Nandy, 27-Beingaichho Beokhokhai, 29-Soumik Dey, 37-Rajib Ghosh

Referee: Bikramjit Puryakastha (Delhi)
Assistant Referees: Deepak Singh (Delhi), Mohammed Kamil (Delhi)
Fourth Official: A. Rowan (Services)
Match Commissioner: J. Ravishankar (Delhi)