IE U-17 Subroto Mukherjee Football Afros HSS set final date with Yourbung HS
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, June 19 2017:
Afros A Higher Secondary School will meet Yourbung High School in the final of the Under-17 Subroto Mukherjee Football Tournament underway at Khuman Lampak main stadium.
The two teams made their way to the final after hard fought wins over their respective opponents in the semi-final today.
In the first match of the day, Afros A Higher Secondary School outclassed Reliance Academy by two goals to one in a match that lived up to the billing of a semi-final match.
Taking cognizance of the importance of the match, both teams took to the field wary of each other, but left nothing to chance to break into the territory of their rival.
The first goal for Reliance Academy came in the form of an own goal off the foot of Md Sabir.
The forward line of Reliance Academy did well in stretching the defence line of Afros A HSS and managed to take the ball into the penalty box of the rival team.
The slushy ground from the overnight shower did not really offer the opportunity to the players to go full speed.
In the melee that followed in front of the goal mouth of Afros HSS, its defender Md Sabir in a desperate attempt to clear the ball only managed to tap it into his own net scoring an own goal in the 19th minute.
This however did not dampen the spirit of the players of Afros HSS and they went all out to come back into the match.
Lemon break was taken at the 25th minute with Reliance Academy leading by one goal to nil.
After the breather, the forward line of Afros HSS put more men in the attack and off one penetrative move, the ball went to Azharuddin who managed to break free from his markers and unleashed a power packed shot that disturbed the net of Reliance Academy and bring his team back into the match in the 41st minute.
The equaliser added more vim to the attack of Afros HSS and they kept on pounding the defence line of Reliance Academy.
On the other hand the defence line of Reliance Academy held firm and they relied on quick counter attacks to keep the defenders of Afros HSS on their toes.
In the 50+2 minute of the match, H Telheiba managed to latch onto a loose ball near the top of the penalty box and find the target to help Afros HSS make their way to the final by the margin of 2 goals to one.
In the second semi-final match of the day, Yourbung High School managed to scrap past North East English School by a solitary goal.
The two teams were evenly matched and both played to a plan to get the better of the other team and lemon break was taken with neither team scoring.
After the first half, Yourbung HS played to a plan and they started finding the gaps in the defence line of North East English School.
Off one such move, an incisive attack was launched from the flank and the ball went to O Arangba who was well placed atop the penalty box.
Neatly controlling the ball, Arangba managed to outstep a couple of defenders and after coming face to face with the rival custodian slot the ball home with a deft shot in the 35th minute to help his team carve out a narrow win.
The final will be played tomorrow at 2 pm.