8th Shaheed Manoranjan Singh Memorial NC Club, AIM enter semi final
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, December 16 2017:
NC Club, Khonghampat secured a slender 2-1 victory while Akbar Khan’s hat-trick powered AIM, Khabam to beat MTFC 3-1 to advance into the semi-final of the 8th Shaheed Manoranjan Singh Memorial CRPF Football Tournament 2017 at Astro Turf Ground, Khuman Lampak today .
The first semi-final match between NC Club and junior of NEROCA FC were evenly match and were trying hard to open up in the beginning.
But NC Club raced ahead at the end of the first half with a superb goal scored by H Dayananda during the stoppage time (45+2′) .
After the restart, N Suresh of NC Club struck another goal in the 60th minute extending the lead by 2-0 .
Stung by the double lead, NEROCA FC made their return lately and E Joykishan was able to score a consolation goal in the 82nd minute .
The remaining part saw NC Club sticking to their citadel disallowing NEROCA’s move and sealed a berth for his team for the semi-final with the narrow 2-1 victory .
In the second encounter, AIM, Khabam managed well to post 3 goals through the star of the day Md Akbar Khan against MTFC, Leimakhong to sail into the semi-final .
The first half ended goalless though AIM dominated the larger portion.
The goal drought ended only in the 62nd minute when Akbar scored his first goal to take the lead.
Stung by the goal, MTFC began to concentrate more in the defence for few minutes .
The defensive wall could not last long as Akbar made his entry into their territory again and banged in a powerful shot past the custodian to give his team a 2-0 lead in the 78th minute.
His last goal came in the 90th minute.
H Arunkumar of MTFC scored a goal during the additional time.