Chirag scrape past Pune

KOLKATA, MARCH 8
After a series of bad results under their belt, Chirag United scraped past Pune FC 1-0, thanks to a first half goal from Sankar Oraon in a round XVIII I-League encounter at  Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata on Tuesday.
The win takes Chirag United to 23 points from 17 matches, while Pune FC’s away fiasco continued as they remained on 19 points from as many matches.
To summarize, the first half belonged to men in purple and they scored one goal midway into the half. After breather, Pune FC dominated the proceedings and came close to scoring at least thrice but they failed to convert. Sankar Oraon who scored the only goal of the match was adjudged man-of-the match.
Pune FC suffered a massive blow within five minutes of start when Izumi Arata suffered an injury and had to be taken to the hospital following a tackle from Chika Wali. Subhash Singh came as an early replacement for the injured Japanese midfielder. 
Joshimar Da Silva Martins missed an easy chance in the 17th minute when he failed to score with only Subrata Pal to beat. However, five minutes later, from Joshimar’s pass, Sankar Oraon who made a comeback after he got injured in Santosh Trophy semi-final put the ball into the back of the net. The striker was all amused by his performance and gave full credit to physical trainer, Garcia, for his recovery.
The woodwork rescued Chirag United as Subhash Singh’s shot hit the post. Pune FC then brought in Shanmugam Venkatesh in place of Lester Fernandez.
Keita missed two consecutive chances in quick succession from set-piece movement. Both times it was Asim Hasan who provided the pass. The first header was the easiest chance that came in the way of Pune FC, but in the next movement it was Chirag goalkeeper Somnath Khara who made a stunning save by diving to his right.
Chirag United coach Sanjoy Sen said, “We badly needed 3 points today. The last few matches we conceded silly goals, but today we played effective football and got 3 points. We could have scored few more goals, but this is part of the game.”