60th CC Meet DM RAO, NACO eke out slender wins
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, December 09 2016:
This year Winners' Cup champions DM RAO, Sekmai edged out one of State League teams, YPHU, Lalambung 1-0 in a thrilling match of the ongoing 60th Sir Churachand Singh KCSI, CBE Memorial football tournament 2016 today at Mapal Kangjeibung.
The teams were cagey at the start and took time to gauge each other's strengths but on the basis of the first 45 minutes it can be safely said that DM RAO enjoyed the upperhand, or at least had the better chances.
YPHU made a surge in the second half and got some scoring opportunities.
But they just fell short of capitalising the chances.
The 61st minute goal by Y Henba was enough for DM RAO to cruise into the quarter final of the tournament.
DM RAO defender Y Henba collected a ball that was cleared by their rivals' custodian and he lobbed from the halfway mark.
YPHU goalkeeper was caught on the wrong position and the ball went straight into the net.
Another clash of the day also saw NACO, Nambul Mapan eking out a slender 7-6 win over RAO, Lairikyengbam.
The first half of the match ended in a goalless stalemate.
In the second half, RAO defender S Goutam while trying to clear a ball, unleashed in their goal area by NACO's Kh Jacky, through a heading did the other way and scored an own goal in the 58th minute.
RAO frenzied attempts to secure the equaliser yielded when Md Rohit Hussain's brilliant shot caught their rivals' custodian on the wrong position in the 83rd minute.
As the teams were tied 1-1 by the end of the normal time, penalty kick was resorted to decide the match winners.
The two sides were held in a 5-5 draw as none of them missed the kicks from penalty.
As such, sudden death was put into play.
While S Anand of NACO found his target, RAO's O Peter shot hit the bar.