Mohammedan Sporting's Habibur Rahman (right) celebrates with Noel Wilson after scoring the winner during the match against JCT in New Delhi on Friday. Picture by Rajesh Kumar

New Delhi: In the end, the smiling face of Subhas Bhowmick said it all.

On a day when the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated the 11th edition of the National Football League (NFL) with great fanfare, it was the Mohammedan Sporting coach who actually stole the thunder when his team came from behind to beat fancied JCT 2-1 at the Ambedkar Stadium on Friday.

No doubt there couldn’t have been a better beginning in the NFL for the Calcutta side. Without a foreigner in the team and trailing 0-1 at the breather, the black-and-white outfit looked set to suffer yet another defeat against the Punjab team.

Bhowmick, however, had other ideas. In the second half, he sent in K. Kulothungan in place of striker Harvinder Singh and the move changed the course of the match rather dramatically. Kulothungan not only struck the equaliser, but also built up several attacks in tandem with Jatin Singh Bisht and Habibur Rahman Mondal to expose the chinks in the JCT defence. Habibur then struck the matchwinner on the stroke of the 90th minute to end the day on a great note for the Calcutta side.

The picture was never so rosy for Mohammedan in the first-half when the Phagwara side were on a rampage. That the attempts by Nigerian Edeh Chidi and striker Sunil Chhetri hit the crosspiece after beating goalkeeper Gopal Das hands down only indicates how luck favoured Mohammedan Sporting.

A rattled Mohammedan Sporting defence couldn’t hold it beyond 30 minutes. For JCT, seasoned Rennedy Singh came up with a superb strike that had the defence stranded. It was a 25-yarder that Rennedy struck with his right from the left of the rivals’ half. It flew into the net with great speed and perfect angle.

The introduction of Kulothungan then changed the whole complexion of the match. As Mohammedan Sporting stretched the rival defence too often, the gaps looked quite evident.

It finally fell in the 69th minute when Kulothungan grabbed the ball off a break-away move and then sent an on-the-run right-footed flick high into the goal. Goalkeeper Kalyan Chowbey was certainly little off the line, but Kulothungan should receive full marks for his sharpness and ability to read the situation.

However, the match’s best moment was reserved for the last. A ball on the right was snatched by Jatin from Harish Sharma and back-passed it to Bijen Singh. As Bijen floated the ball into the box, Habibur leaped in the air to send in a gem of a header crashing into the net. It was the best goal of the day.

Teams

Mohammedan Sporting: Gopal Das; Shyam Mondal (Surojit Roy, 39), Madhab Das, AS Firoze, Mir Farooq Hyder; Habibur Rahman, Noel Wilson, Jatin Bisht, Subashish Roy and Harvinder Singh (K. Kuluthungan, 46); Bijen Singh.

JCT: Kalyan Chowbey; Baldeep Singh, Harpreet Singh, Anwar, Daljit Singh; Shivraj Singh, Baldeep Singh Jr (Rakinderjit Singh, 78), Adebayo, Rennedy Singh (Harish Sharma, 73); Sunil Chhetri, Edeh Chidi.

Referee: A. Arjunan (Services).