12th Manipur State League : NEROCA FC beat KLASA 6-4 on penalties to ease into final
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, December 31 2018: NEROCA FC which finished second in the league stage booked the final berth of the 12th Manipur State League 2017 after defeating KLASA, Keinou by 6-4 goals via penalties after 2-2 draw during normal time at Football Turf Ground, Khuman Lampak, Imphal today.

League stage winners, KLASA and NEROCA FC had an intense battle as the winners will proceed to the final but winners were decided via penalty shoot-out as the game ended in a 2-2 draw.

KLASA which went down to NEROCA FC today will have to wait for winners among 6 lower placed teams for their second chance to meet NEROCA FC.

Both teams started the game cautiously until Felix Chidi headed in the opener halfway of the first half after connecting a fine cross delivered by Subhash Singam from the right flank.

KLASA however rallied back calmly and managed to draw level seven minutes latter through Khanngam Horam.

The parity however proved shortlived as Chidi found the back of the net the very next minute and made it 2-1 at the break.

After the break, KLASA dominated the possession and pushed more men forward to pile up pressure on NEROCA FC in search of the equaliser.

NEROCA FC managed to hold the pressure for a major portion of the second half but Khanngam Horam was at his best to break NEROCA wall late in the 86th minute and restore parity extending the game to penalty shoot-out.

Y Denichandra, W Rojen Meitei, S Subhash and M Ashok of NEROCA FC were able to beat the KLASA keeper during the shoot-out while Th Ngouba and LS Hasupulu only converted the shots into goals for KLASA.

Comment