Salgaocar 3 - Vasco 0
JCT 0 - Indian Bank 0
East Bengal 0 - Tollygunge Agragami 0
Lector Caido's brace helped Salgaocar score a convincing 3-0 win over Vasco Sports Club in their opening Group 'A' encounter in the boys' under-19 National Football League, which got underway at the Duler ground in Mapusa, Goa, on Tuesday.
Salgaocar, who led 2-0 at half-time, scored through Rajesh Patil (34th minute) and Lector Caido (36th, 48th).
Both teams played entertaining soccer. Salgaocar, who were thwarted by rival defenders from scoring in the initial stages took the lead in the 34th minute when Rajesh Patil latched on to the ball, after it deflected off the post following Meleish's shot, and slotted home from close.
Two minutes later, Caido increased the lead when he found the net off a cross from Denzil Franco to have Salgaocar leading 2-0 at half time.
Meleish, who was instrumental in the second goal, floated the ball off a flag-kick to Lector, who headed the ball into the net three minutes after resumption to score his brace and give Salgacoar a comfortable victory.
Vasco also created scoring chances but Agnelo D'Souza failed to make use of the opportunities that came his way.
In other matches in Group B, in Kolkata, JCT Mills, Phagwara, squandered several chances to finish goalless with Indian Bank, Chennai, while East Bengal failed to drum up a good combination and were held 0-0 by local challengers Tollygunge Agragami.
Playing at the Mohammedan Sporting ground, JCT showed good coordination and relied on their characteristic speed and power to push their opponents on the defensive for most part of the 90-minute encounter.
However, their strikers displayed poor marksmanship, muffing up two gilt-edged opportunities, while the woodwork stood in the way of a Rajkumar Yadav strike in the 18th minute of the opening session.
Four minutes later, a long centre from the midfield was headed by Manpreet Singh from inside the box, but Bank right back V Arokiaraj brought off a goallines save.
Fifteen minutes into the second-half, a Yadav cross from the right went abegging as Surinder Singh failed to tap in with Indian Bank custodian S Rajini out of position.
The East Bengal - Tollygunge match on the former's home ground was an even more listless affair. East Bengal, fielding a makeshift combination comprising players from different clubs, were done in by lack of cohesion.
Except for the first 15 minutes, Tollygunge had the edge, and were all over their rivals after the breather. But East Bengal came closest to scoring when Kishore Mullick's shot from close went inches over the crossbar.
