Kokrajhar (Assam): Odisha FC (OFC) started their campaign in the 133rd Durand Cup, with a dominant 5-0 victory over Border Security Force Football Team (BSF FT) in a Group E encounter played at the SAI Stadium here on Saturday.
Givson Singh Moirangthem’s double and Rahul Mukhi, Ashangbam Aphaoba Singh and Roshan Panna’s strikes in the second half, gave a comfortable victory to Odisha, as they went on top of the group standings over North East United FC on goal difference.
Odisha began with quick attacks but both teams were holding a steady pace in their efforts to move up the field. Considering Odisha fielded their second team, it can’t be denied that they were playing somewhat better than BSF.
Odisha FC were dominating the game with another golden chance where a flying ball inside the opposition box from the right flank went a bit too far away from the player positioning cleverly in the middle. They earned a free-kick that was also taken well but BSF goalkeeper Harpreet Singh did well to clear by punching it away.
In the last quarter of the first half BSF were getting into dangerous positions and that too unmarked. On the other hand, Odisha were doing their best and waiting like a fox, as soon as the opponent were making a mistake, the Juggernauts were ready to take opportunity other than the times they were building up from midfield.
However, before the referee blew the whistle for half time Odisha got their best chance in the game. The ball destined to go inside from very close range was intercepted and cleared well by BSF, who did not waste any time and went on the counter-attack soon and came close even but made the mistake of being in an offside position.
The Juggernauts began the second half match where they left off with quick attacks but BSF also picked up their pace and it did not take them long to get into dangerous positions near the Odisha box. But expectedly, Odisha managed to get the lead with three BSF defenders trying to stop three Odisha players but young promising forward Rahul Mukhi kept running, beating them in the run and took the lead for the Kalinga Warriors.
In the first ten minutes into the second half of the match, it was all Odisha while Aphaoba from the left side of the field made a beautiful run. No one marked him and even tried to stop him who curled it beautifully into the net and made it 2-0 for Odisha. Two goals in two minutes from Odisha and the whole stadium was spellbound. The goal came from a beautiful partnership between the last goal scorer Aphaoba and the second goal scorer Givson Singh, who waited perfectly in the middle of the attack. Aphaoba passed him from the left and BSF defenders gave Givson all the time to shoot it and the goalkeeper could do absolutely nothing.
After conceding three goals in eight minutes, BSF seemed to be rattled in a way. In the 79th minute, BSF managed to get a dangerous shot in but it missed the net by inches. However, Odisha were quick to go on the counter-attack and earned a corner in the process, took a shot, and the pass ultimately fell at the feet of Roshan Panna assisted by Givson Singh who didn’t fail to score.
The final goal of the game came two minutes later and Givson Singh got his brace, positioning himself perfectly in the middle, got the pass from the left and put it perfectly at the back of the net.
The Kalinga Warriors saw off the rest of the game without much trouble to seal all three points.
–IANS
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