1st State Level U-13 Football Tournament : PYPC ride Herojen's brace to lift title
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, March 23 2014:
Riding on a brace from Herojen, PYPC, Pungdongbam managed to beat UPSA Pukhao by a margin of 3 goals to one to lift the 1st State Level U-13 Football Tournament today.
With both teams reaching the summit clash, both teams started warily, but it was the team from Pungdongbam, which displayed better co-ordination and understanding to ultimately prevail over their rivals and walk home with the trophy.
Capitalising on a misunderstanding amongst the defenders of UPSA, Herojen of PYPC, pounced on the ball on top of the penalty box and managed to take it into the danger zone of the rival team.
With no one to challenge him, save for the custodian, Herojen made no mistake with the ball to bang it home in the 7th minute of the match.
Jolted by the early goal, UPSA went all out on the offensive to restore parity and come back into the match, but in the process forgot to put enough men to guard its citadel.
Launching a series of attacks on either side of the flanks and controlling the midfield UPSA for a brief period dictated the course of the match.
However PYPC managed to capitalise on their huge gaps left in the defence line and Herojen was at it again when he received a defence splitting pass near the top of the penalty box.
Herojen did well to keep his cool and after sidestepping a couple of defenders, managed to tap the ball into the far side of the net to help his team take a two goal lead.
The two goal deficit did not dampen the spirit of UPSA as they went all out to find a goal and close the gap.
Their efforts finally paid off when Umakanta, went off on a splendid solo run from the midfield to bang home the target in the 30th minute of the match.
The reduction in margin however did not last long as after ten minutes, PYPC again was bang on target, this time the goal coming from the boot of Sanayai in the 40th minute to seal the match.
PYPC walked away with the champions title and a cash prize of Rs 10,000 while the runners up UPSA received Rs 5000 plus a trophy.
The man of the final match award went of Herojen of PYPC while the best goal keeper award was bagged by Mathabi of PYPC.
The player of the tournament title went to Bronson of UPSA while the top scorer honour was bagged by Rohit of UPSA with 8 goals.
The tournament was organised by United Pukhao Sports Association.