State eves regain national football crown
Source: The Sangai Express

Golakhat, May 12 2014 : Manipur erased the dis-appointing memories of stumbling in the semifinal stage of last edition's Senior Women's National Football Championship with a clinical 3-1 defeat of Orissa in the summit clash of the championship's 20th edition this afternoon here.

Brace of goals from India internationals Ng Bala and one by O bembem set up the convincing victory for the State eves who could have wrested the crown without conceding the goal to the opponents had their plea for a penalty award in injury time not been rejected by the match official.

A swift move on the right flank that saw O Bembem out-pacing the rival defenders culminated with Ng Bala heading home the opener following a cross from her international colleague only two minutes into the match.

Manipur Women footballers :: Pix - Hueiyen Lanpao

Not satisfied with the one-goal lead the State eves sustained pressure on the rival zone in their search for more goals which eventually came when the provider turned scorer.

Outwitting the Orissa girls down the left flank M Mandakini's swerving cross found an unmarked Bembem who made no mistake in doubling the lead from a close range in the 19th minute.

Despite continuous dominance Manipur could not translate their superiority into goals in the remaining session of the first half with Ng Bala, in particular, fumbling in front of the Orissa goal on a number of occasion.

The second half too witnessed the 16 times champions having a firm grip on the grand finale and virtually laying siege on the Orissa zone.

Having missed a couple of scoring opportunities earlier, Ng Bala made up for the mistakes with her 31st goal of the championship in the 55th minute when yet another cross from the left by Mandakini was tapped in by the tournament's most prolific scorer.

The Orissa girls managed to pull back one three minutes into added time taking advantage of disorder among the Manipur players, who were pleading for a penalty when a rival defender seemingly handled the ball inside the restricted zone.

As there was no stoppage to the match Orissa cleared from their zone and found Sakina Nesha near the centre.

Spotting that the Manipur custodian leaving her guard, Sakina's instinctive long range shot sailed over the dumbstruck goal-keeper to land into the empty net.

Today's win is the 17th triumph for Manipur, who also had to content as the second best team in two other editions of the championship.

Ng Bala deservedly was declared the best player of the championship.

She had 31 successful strikes against the opponents.

In the 19th national women's football competition, Manipur the perennial champions suffered a rare defeat in the semifinal stage when it lost to west Bengal.