KFA's Open Night Football Tourney : Taphou FC, SMT Haipi, TASA book quarter final berths
Source: The Sangai Express
Kangpokpi, November 18 2021:
As the round of 22 of the ongoing Kuki Football Academy's Open Night Football Tournament began yesterday night, Taphou Football Club beat Real Friends' United (RFU) Kangpokpi 2-1 to become the first team to reach the quarterfinal round.
Though Taphou FC have no key player to mention, they had the experience to take down a team like RFU led by former ISL player Boithang Haokip.
Taphou FC, despite strong domination of the game by RFU, managed to find an opener early when its captain Sehthang struck home in the 5th minute and led the game till Boithang Haokip found the equalizer for RFU in the 32nd minute before halftime.
Taphou FC had a brilliant comeback in the second half as Thangkhanlal found the winning goal in the 51st-minute and thwarted all charges of RFU in the remainder of the game to go home 2-1.In the second match, SMT Haipi edged out SMT Pangjang 2-1 to become the second team to find a spot in the quarterfinals round.
The winning goals for the Haipi side came from Lhungousem (24') and Thangmawi (65').In the third match, Twilang Area Sporting Club (TASA) drubbed Young Gun's Haipi 6-2 to book the third spot in the quarterfinal round.
Lalkhanlen shone in this high scoring encounter opening up the scoring as early as 5 minute before pumping in three more goals for TASA in the 47th, 55th and 70th minutes.
The other two goals for the winning team were scored by Donggouthang (13') and Songpu (23') while Hemchon (61') and Tinhao (73') scored for Young Gun's Haipi.