22nd Winners Cup : RAO hold YUFC, ULFC edge past FC Kakching
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, October 23 2017: The 22nd Winners Cup for Men 2017 kicked off today in presence of N Sanatomba, president All Manipur Football Association at Artificial turf ground (Astro turf), Khuman Lampak .

The tournament organised under the supervision of AMFA is participated by 11 winning teams of different league tournaments held in different districts of Manipur.

The tournament will be organised at different venues of the State on home and away basis .

The opening match between host RAO, Lairikyengbam Leikai and away team YUFC, Ukhrul ended in a 1-1 stalemate .

Both teams started well in the first half making good runs against one another.

One such efforts paid YUFC when Thomyol Simrey struck the opener in the 24th minute of the match to take the lead.

Stung by the goal, RAO also made a series of raids but YUFC defended well nullifying all the onslaughts.

The first half ended 1-0 in favour of the visitor YUFC .

After the breather, both teams started well with crisp passing and good understanding among the players.

The latter part of the match saw a shift towards RAO which were trying hard to restore parity .

Their efforts proved fruitful when Ayam Chingfang scored the equaliser in the 83rd minute when he banged in a shot preceded by a pass in the inner territory of YUFC to make it 1-1 .

Thereafter, both teams made many efforts to break the deadlock but ended without any change in the scoreline .

YUFC will host the second match against RAO at TNL ground, Ukhrul on October 26.The team with the higher point will find a place in the quarter-finals of the tournament .

In another match, host ULFC, Chandel came back from behind to edge past FC Kakching 2-1 .

The away team, FC Kakching opened the account in the 18th minute of the match and stuck to the lead for almost the first half but the last minute of the first half turned sour for FC Kakching when J Wangpol found the back of the net making the scoreline even at 1-1 .

After the restart, ULFC began the game with more purpose and it was Premkumar of ULFC who broke the stalemate in the 69th minute to take a 2-1 lead.

FC Kakching also fought hard to level the score but their efforts went in vain as the defence line of ULFC rose to the occasion and stopped all moves made against them till the final whistle .

Lungousham of FC Kakching and Yangkhokai of ULFC were yellow carded in the 53rd and 70th minute respectively.

The next match will be hosted by FC Kakching against ULFC at DSA Kakching ground on October 26 and it will decide the better team which would advance to the quarter-finals .

SAI SAG, Utlou will take on MNCC Khonghampat (representing Imphal West district) at SAI ground Utlou tomorrow at 1 pm while home team UBK Churachandpur will take on AHSO (representing DSA Senapti district) at Kholmun playground Churachandpur.

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