24th Senior Women National Football : Manipur women drub Punjab 4-1 to cruise into semi-final
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, September 27 2018:
The Senior women State team dished out another stellar performance in the ongoing 24th Senior Women National Football 2018 to churn out a spectacular 4-1 win against lowly Punjab at Barbati Stadium, Cuttack, Odisha today.
Dangmei Grace (3') opened the scoring for Manipur through a superb pass from Umapati and doubled the lead in the 22' minute at the end of half-time.
Ng Bala (42') added another goal to get herself on the scoresheet, whereas N Ratanbala (70') wrapped it up in style.
T Purnima scored the lone goal for Punjab in the 61" minute.
Following the win, Manipur booked a place in the semi-final having beaten
Punjab 4-1 in the quarter final.
Grace, Bala and Ratanbala combined well to wreak havoc on the tough opponent but the rival defenders soaked in the pressure three minute into the game when Dangmei Grace notched the opening goal for Manipur.
Umapati breezed past the defenders of Punjab to deliver a low cross for Dangmei Grace, whose well-timed tap-in doubled the lead in the 22nd minute for Manipur.
Manipur were leading 2-0 at the end of the first-half.
Meanwhile, Punjab were happy to sit back in their own half and defend while the custodian of Punjab made some exquisite saves during the course of the game.
After the changeover, Manipur continued to mount more pressure on Punjab.
The third goal came in the 42nd minute when Ng Bala converted a chance created by Dangmei Grace to hand Manipur a comfortable 3-0 lead.
However, T Purnima of Punjab managed to climb the wall of Manipur's defence in the 61st minute to reduce the scoreline at 1-3.Nine minutes later, N Ratanbala latched on to another attack down the middle and kept her calm to score the fourth goal of the game, which eventually nailed the final one in the coffin.