20th Women National Football Championship : Manipur continue winning streak, beat Maharastra
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, May 05 2014:
Riding on a hattrick from Ng Bala Manipur continued with the winning streak thrashing Maharastra by a margin of 7 goals to one in the 20th Womens' National Football Championship being held at Bokakhat, Assam today.
This was the fourth straight win for the girls from Manipur having beaten Chattisgarh 22-0, Uttar Pradesh 13-0 and Madhya Pradesh 9-0 .
So complete was the domination by the girls from Manipur that the players from Maharastra were left mere spectators.
With the girls from Manipur outplaying their opponent in every department of the game, the goals came freely and at will.
Spread all over the field, the girls from Manipur after taking complete control of the match dictated the pace of the match from the first whistle and started raiding the territory of the rival team repeatedly.
The floodgates opened as early as the 3rd minute of the match when Dangmei Grace received a defence splitting pass well inside the penalty box of Maharastra.
Controlling the ball with finesse, Grace wrong footed a couple of defenders and let go a power packed shot that beat the custodian of Maharastra hands down.
The girls from Manipur did not rest on the one goal lead and unleased and mounted a series of attacks that left the Maharastra players flabbergasted.
I Prameshori scored in the 13th minute to increase the lead.
The goal was a culmination of some fine, short, accurate passes amongst the players of Manipur and I Prameshori who was lurking nearby pounced onto the ball and made no mistake in slotting it home.
The attack continued and the defence line of Maharastra completely crumbled allowing the forward lines of Manipur to score almost at will.
Up by three goals, the girls from Manipur did not loosen their grip on the match and Ng Bala came into her own to do the star turn and pump in three goals in quick succession to register a hattrick.
Her first goal came from a well directed pass which she received at the top of the penalty box.
Catching the defenders of Maharastra napping, Bala went off on a fine solo run and banged home the ball in the 50th minute to help her team take a four goal lead.
Ng Bala was at it again in the 60th minute when she made no mistake with a fine pass inside the penalty box and let go a volley that beat the outstretched hands of the custodian of Maharastra.
The third goal for Bala came in the 72nd minute when she read the flight of the ball well to find the target.
Mandakini scored in the 89th minute to complete the rout.
Maharastra got a consolation goal against the run of play.