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The I-League resumes on Tuesday with a potential relegation six-pointer between Churchill Brothers and Rangdajied United. Sportskeeda lists five previous relegation deciders of the I-League era.
The list is in chronological order
Viva Kerala 1-3 East Bengal (February 17 2008)
East Bengal came into the inaugural season of the I-League as Federation Cup holders but were threatened by relegation after a string of poor results under Subroto Bhattacharya. But the appointment of club legend Manoranjan Bhattacharya saw a change in fortunes as they recorded surprise wins over Dempo and Mahindra United. But a goalless draw against Air India and home defeat to Churchill Brothers saw the red-and-gold brigade back in danger with two games still remaining. Up next was an away clash against newly-promoted Viva Kerala, who lived up to their expectations of being one of the favourites for relegation by being in the bottom two of the 10-team league for the majority of the campaign.
A win for the Kerala club though would have seen them go level on points with East Bengal but the Kolkata giants raised their game and took the lead through Syed Rahim Nabi. Ebin Rose equalised for Viva Kerala before halftime but East Bengal always looked the more dangerous side and Alvito D’Cunha put them back in front in the second half. Subrata Pal had to produce some important saves to preserve the Kolkata club’s lead and then Brazilian Edmilson Marques sealed the points by netting the third in stoppage time. The result confirmed East Bengal’s top flight status for another season while Viva Kerala officially went down to the second division.
Mohammedan Sporting 2-2 United SC (March 7 2009)
Mohun Bagan legend Subroto Bhattacharya guided United SC to safety in their debut campaign
Four clubs were promoted from the second division for the 2008-09 I-League and two of them were Kolkata’s Mohammedan Sporting and United SC (called Chirag United back then). Mohammedan were making their return to the top flight after two years while it was the debut campaign of United SC. Both sides were expected to struggle with survival being the priority and thus the two direct meetings were always going to be crucial. United SC won the first encounter 1-0 and going into this reverse fixture they had a five-point advantage over Mohammedan, who were in the drop zone.Three of Mohammedan’s remaining four fixtures were in Goa so they desperately needed to get maximum points from this to stand any chance of staying up.
However United SC, coached by Mohun Bagan legend Subroto Bhattacharya, started the game strongly and went in front through Muritala Ali. The purple shirts could and should have led by more at the break but were wasteful and also hit the woodwork. Mohammedan Sporting equalised in the second half through Suraj Mondal but Sankar Oraon restored United SC’s lead. A moment of individual brilliance from Mike Okoro made it 2-2 but Mohammedan couldn’t find the winner. This point proved to be vital for United SC as they stayed up despite picking up fewer points than Mohammedan in the final four games.
Sporting Clube 1-2 Viva Kerala (March 28 2010)
Four clubs were promoted to the I-League in the 2009-10 campaign also as the league got expanded to 14 teams. One of the promoted sides was Viva Kerala and just like the 2007-08 season they were favourites to get relegated in this campaign also. They had the worst possible start, losing their first four games and got their first victory in round five as they defeated Sporting Clube de Goa 4-2. At that stage of the season non one could have imagined that going into the reverse fixture in Goa five months later Sporting Clube would be rooted to the bottom of the table. Viva Kerala though were only two points ahead of Sporting and a poor away record of just five points from seven matches.
This was undoubtedly a relegation six-pointer and the club from Kerala enjoyed a dream start as they went in front through young CS Sabeeth. Sporting Clube struggled to create clear cut opportunities and only remained in the game thanks to the heroics of goalkeeper Felix D’Souza. Viva Kerala finally doubled their advantage through Sirajuddeen in the second half but Agnelo D’Souza almost immediately pulled one back for the hosts. However Viva Kerala held on for their first-ever victory in Goa and in the end this win proved to be decisive as they survived, finishing with three points more than Sporting Clube, who were relegated.
Viva Kerala 2-1 Shillong Lajong (May 4 2010)
After that vital away win over Sporting Clube, Viva Kerala picked up just two points from their next five matches and found themselves back in the bottom two. Coming into this encounter, they trailed I-League debutants Shillong Lajong by one point and the north-east club had picked up five points from their previous three games. Crucially though those three fixtures of Lajong were on home soil and they like Viva Kerala had been poor on their travels all season. There were only two more rounds of matches after this so both sides were desperate for a win and in the end Viva Kerala’s home advantage proved to be the major difference.
Playing in the unfamiliar hot and humid conditions of a May afternoon in Kozhikode, Lajong’s young squad just couldn’t play to their full potential while Viva Kerala attacked from the very first whistle and deservingly went in front through Rahul P. Just like the game against Sporting Clube in March, the Kerala club couldn’t find the second goal until the second half when Sabeeth found the back of the net. James Giblee made it 2-1 soon after to set up a nervy final half four for Viva Kerala but they eventually secured the win to go above Lajong and move out of the drop zone. The Shillong club lost both their final two games to get relegated while two more draws saw Viva Kerala beat the drop.
Air India 1-0 JCT (May 8 2011)
JCT suffered relegation under the legendary Sukhwinder Singh
The current season of the I-League is highly competitive at both ends of the table but the battle for survival in the 2010-11 season is still considered to be the most evenly contested with direct meetings among the relegation contenders proving to be decisive. Going into this fixture, JCT had 23 points from 22 games while Air India had two less from 24 outings. So this game was an absolute must-win for Air India while JCT knew that even a point would be a good result as they still had three more games remaining. This campaign they relied on a young squad mostly comprising of their academy graduates while Air India had plenty of experience despite lacking in quality.
Eventually JCT’s inexperience showed as they went down 1-0 with Okorogor Praise scoring the winner but the importance of that result was only evident in the final round of games. JCT still had a couple of fixtures until their final fixture but they drew with United SC and then lost to Mohun Bagan. Air India incredibly lost 14-0 to Dempo in their final game of the season while JCT were beaten 2-0 by Salgaocar, who secured the title. With ONGC holding Mumbai FC and HAL beating Dempo, the bottom four teams finished on the same number of points but Air India and HAL survived as they were the top two of the mini head-to-head table counting the results of the clashes among the four sides with JCT’s loss to Air India proving to be costly. The Punjab club also disbanded its senior team after this relegation.
