12th Manipur State League DM Rao dump Muvanlai Athletics, NEROCA edge past NISA
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, September 07 2017: It was a day of high drama at the Artificial Turf Ground, Khuman Lampak with the four teams exhibiting excellent fighting spirit, team work and deft skills on the second day of the 12th Manipur State League today .

The first match between DM Rao, Sekmai and Muvanlai Athletics (MA), Sadar Hills lived up to the billing of a competitive match, enthralling the spectators who had turned up to witness the match .

The match started with both teams testing the other and while DM Rao had better ball possession and tried to control the mid field, MA relied on fast counter attacks to keep the defenders of DM Rao on their toes .

12th Manipur State League DM Rao dump Muvanlai Athletics

Getting better control of the mid field, offered just the right opportunity for the players of DM Rao to run all over the field, and off one such move, Thangjoylen Khongsai took good control of the ball and after making inroads into the territory of MA tapped the ball to Khangatar Tungsha-ngnao who was well posi- tioned near the D box .

Tungshangnao did well in deftly controlling the ball and after catching a couple of MA defenders on the wrong foot, managed to disturb the net in the 24th minute to help DM Rao take a 1-0 lead .

Stung by the goal, MA put more men in the attack but the defence line of DM Rao stood firm and did not give them any space to run riot .

Lemon break was taken with DM Rao leading by one goal .

In the second half, DM Rao initiated a good move in the mid field and H Naobi who received a well timed pass managed to send it across to the Mayonsing Khongreiwo who was lurking nearby .

Khongreiwo managed to dribble the ball past some defenders and send it across the outstretched hands of the custodian of MA in the 79th minute to give DM Rao a two goal lead .

Not dampened by the two goal deficit, MA put more men in the attack and off a swift attack, N Bonison took the ball right into the penalty box of DM Rao .

Defender of DM Rao, Th Krishna in his desperate attempt to stop the forward handled the ball and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the dreaded spot .

Haolengou Kipgen of MA who took the kick kept his cool and put the ball past the goalkeeper of DM Rao in the 82nd minute .

Khangatar Tungshangnao of DM Rao was it again in the 84th minute of the match, when he took the ball right into the penalty box of MA and in the goal mouth melee that followed, managed to push the ball to Y Shushilkumar who had no trouble in tapping it home to hand DM Rao a 3-1 win over MA .

The second match of the day saw a keen battle between NEROCA FC and NISA, with the former walking home by the odd goal in three .

Using their height advantage to good use, NEROCA had better air control and managed to nullify all the good moves initiated by NISA from the flanks .

While NISA players demonstrated better positioning and skills, NEROCA players relied on their physical prowess and good aerial control .

In the 29th minute, Ng Ronald received a defence splitting pass and he made a good run with the ball and took it to the far left of NISA’s territory .

In his desperate attempt to stop the Ronald, S Rajen of NISA committed a foul and the referee awarded a free kick to NEROCA at the far left of NISA .

Ng Tondonba who took the kick unleashed a well measured shot and Ng Ronald who was well positioned near the goal mouth rose to the occasion and neatly headed in giving no chance to the custodian of NISA .

The reversal jolted the players of NISA and they started playing with a purpose and put more men in the attack .

Th Thangamba did well in out pacing a couple of defenders of NEROCA and took ball into the penalty box and after outstepping a couple of defenders, deftly passed the ball to Jolly Singh who was lurking nearby .

Jolly Singh did well to neatly trap the ball and unleash a power pack shot that went past the custodian of NEROCA in the 35th minute .

Extra time had to be added as neither team could break the stalemate in normal time .

In the 4th minute of extra time, NEROCA were awarded a flag kick and S Subhas who took the kick did well to float the dangerously close to the custodian of NISA .

The goalkeeper of NISA rose to collect the call, but could not effect a neat save and N Gouramangi who was nearby pounced on the ball and found the target to gift the match to NEROCA.