A brilliant three-goal burst by Dudu Omagbemi saw Haywards Sporting of Goa trounce State Bank of Travancore, Kerala, 5-2 in the opening match of the Second Division National Football League finals at the Ambedkar stadium in Delhi on Wednesday.
Haywards' two towering Nigerian strikers -- Dudu and Amaechi Omagbemi -- dominated the match, systematically splitting the Kerala defence with their incisive forays.
Dudu, who had scored a hat-trick in the NFL while representing Salgaocar, played outstandingly today, scoring in the 24th, 42nd and the 66th minutes.
SBT opened the scoring through a solo run from S Ignatious in the fifth minute. But Amechi Omagbemi restored parity for the Goa side in the 23rd minute 1-1.
Subsequently, the side, formerly known as Sporting Clube de Goa, took control of the match after they made it 2-1 a minute later through Dudu, who bulged the net with a stiff left-footer.
Dudu added another goal in the 42nd minute to make the score 3-1.
The Nigerian did the spade work for the fourth goal, with Joesph Pereira finishing it off with a powerful rightfooter, as Haywards went into half-time 4-1 up.
In the 11th minute of the second-half, Ignatious scored again to pull one back for the Kerala side - 4-2.
But in the 66th minute, Dudu made a solo run from a pass from Nureni Ayodeji, to make it it 5-2 and complete the rout.
SBT, Kerala's lone team to progress this far after the relegation of FC Kochin last year, were lacking in experience. Their efforts to make it to the premier league after a gap of three years is already proving difficult.
Their speedy forwards Asif Saheer, S Ignatious and Abdul Hakkim too could not deliver today. Probably the sweltering heat proved their undoing.
UNI
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