Indian Women's League : Manipur Police finish runners up as Sethu FC claim title
Source: The Sangai Express / AIFF Media Team
Ludhiana, May 22 2019:
Sethu
FC turned around a first-half
deficit to beat Manipur Police
SC 3-1 and win their first ever
Hero Indian Women's
League trophy in the process,
at the Guru Nanak Stadium,
here on Wednesday (May 22,
2019).
Radharani Devi had put
Manipur Police in the lead
towards the end of the first
half, but an own goal by
Umapati Devi put Sethu
back in the game, before
their Nepal international
Sabitra Bhandari turned up
the heat to score two goals
and win it for the Maduraibased
side.
Sethu got off with the
more chances in the first
half, as they kept the
Manipur attackers in check
and built on their swift
counter-attacks to move the
ball up the pitch quickly.
Their left winger Sandhiya
looked lively in the opening
exchanges, as she bombed
down the left flank to give a
lot of trouble to the Manipur
defence.
The India international
had the first clear chance a
little after 10 minutes, when
she received the ball just
inside the box and pulled the
trigger.
However, she
scuffed her instep shot and
it lacked any sting.
The winger had another
good chance when she received
the ball from a melee
inside the Manipur box, but
her shot rolled inches wide
of the post.
Manipur's Bala Devi was
tightly marked, and she often
had to drop to the
midfield or to the right wing,
in order to make some space
for herself.
Bala increasingly
began to cut a rather frustrated
figure, and was
starting to resort to longrange
efforts.
Manipur's goal came at
just the right time, with a
little over a minute of regulation
time left for the first
half, as Radharani leaped
above the rest to nod in a
corner from the left.
Sethu came out with
more vigour in the second
half, and got the goal that
they were looking for, when
Dangmei Grace broke down
the right and sent in a low
cross as captain Indumathi
Kathiresan pulled the trigger.
However, it took a
deflection off Manipur Police
defender Umapati Devi,
who was unfortunately
awarded the own goal.
It took the Madurai-based
side around another five
minutes to take the lead for
the first time this game, as
their mercurial Nepalese
striker Sabitra Bhandari was
set through on goal.
the
Sethu number nine rounded
off the keeper, before slotting
it into the net from an
angle.
Sabitra, who was relatively
quiet for most of the
first half, came into her own
after this goal that gave her
the confidence.
She scored
her second of the evening,
when Sandhiya broke swiftly
down the left and played her
in through the channel between
the left back and the
left centre-back.
The Nepal
international opened up her
right foot and slotted it into
the bottom corner to give
Sethu the two-goal cushion.
From then on, it was a
matter of seeing out the
Manipur attacks, a responsibility
that the likes of Sethu
defenders Ashalata Devi and
Sweety Devi, and
midfielders Sumithra,
Ratanbala and Indumathi
carried out perfectly .
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