Striker Amulya Das (in yellow) and goalkeeper Luchan Saikia of Assam Police Blues celebrate their victory at Nehru Stadium in Guwahati on Monday. Picture by S.H. Patgiri

Super Division League

Guwahati, Sept. 12: Assam Police Blues today rode stunning goals by substitutes Amulya Das and Digen Das within four minutes of each other to retain the Super Division football crown at the Nehru Stadium here.

The cops came back from behind to win the title for the second year running, beating the Assam Club champions, Assam State Electricity Board. The policemen displayed a panache seldom seen on Assam?s sporting fields.

Trailing 0-1, thanks to a brilliant header from ASEB?s Suresh Das in the 72nd minute, the police team not only raised their game but also left the ASEB defence in tatters with repeated assaults in the last 20 minutes.

ASEB custodian Shankar Barman could not save the day in spite of a good effort.

First to find the net was Amulya Das. His shot from within the box to the left of Barman in the 85th minute provided the much-needed equaliser. Four minutes later, Digen Das intercepted a well-measured Rabijit Jigdung, the top scorer of the league, to head home what proved to be the winning goal (2-1).

The powermen paid the price of dropping their guard after taking the lead and playing for a draw after the scores were levelled.

ASEB coach Ganesh Rai said: ?We lost the match in the last 20 minutes. With the midfield disintegrating, there was too much pressure on the defenders. The bottomline is we played poor football.?

?They were deserving winners. They were brilliant,? said ASEB advisor J.K. Bora.

Much of the credit for the policemen?s performance belongs to coach and former international Jewel Bey and deputy Molong Ao. ? All credit to the boys. We started the match with 22 points to ASEB?s 25 points and finished with 25. However, there are areas we need to improve,? said Bey.

SAI and Dynamo finished third and fourth respectively with 17 and 10 points in the eight-team field. Maharana were relegated with four points. Jewel Star topped the relegation group with 14 points, Guwahati Town Club with 12 points and NF Railway with 10 points.

Richard Choudhury of Jewel Star was adjudged the best player, GTC?s Bhaskarjyoti Borah the best forward, ASEB?s Thangthong Kom the best defender and Monikanta Brahma the best linkman of the meet.