MAPUSA: A three-goal scoring blitz by Ashique Kuruniyan helped Pune Football Club U-21 to scored a resounding 4-1 victory over Salgaocar Football Club U-21 in the All India Bandodkar Gold Trophy football tournament Group A match organized by GFA at Duler Stadium, here, on Friday.
Pune FC now stand on the top of Group A cluster table and have qualified for the semi-finals with seven points.
Despite the huge scoreline, Salgaocar FC were never the underdogs of the match, however their strikers let them down when it mattered most.
At halftime, both the sides were tied at 1-1 with Naro Hari Shrestha putting Salgaocar FC into the lead in the 31st minute while Bhunthalun Samte levelled terms for Pune FC in the 35th minute.
Pune FC tried to bring their rivals under pressure right from the start of the match by initiating several vicious moves.
Salgaocar FC defence along with their goalkeeper did remarkably well to thwart the effort of Balkar Singh, Ashique and Omega Vanlalhruaitloanga.
Minutes later, Salgaocar FC keeper Rohan Sheikh did remarkably well to push away Ashique’s powerful right footer.
Salgaocar FC finally got their acts together and pushed forward, where in the 20th minute Naro Hari Shrestha saw his curling strike from the edge of the 18-yard box being fisted away for a corner by Pune FC custodian Anuj Kumar.
The Green Brigade managed to break the deadlock in the 31st minute of play when Jason Barbosa sent a defence splitting pass to Myron Borges who further sent the ball to Naro Hari, where the youngster wasted no time and fired in a low grounder past the diving Pune FC keeper, 1-0.
Hardly had the celebration in the Salgaocar FC camp ended, Pune FC came with a quick equalizer in the 35th minute when Ashique ran down the left flank and sent a pinpoint cross to well positioned Bhunthalun Samte, who scored through an adroit placement, 1-1.
Crossing over, Pune FC took on the field with more vengeance and managed to pin their rivals in their own backyard.
Had it had not been for Salgaocar FC keeper Rohan’s brilliant antics under the horizontal bar to frustrate the efforts of Balkar Singh, Mohd Yasir and Sahil Panwar, the scoreline would have been much more embarrassing for the Green Brigade.
However, there was little that he could do once Ashique got off on a scoring spree.
In the 56th minute, Ashique put Pune FC into the lead when he unleashed a powerful strike from outside the box, 2-1.
Salgaocar FC had several opportunities to restore parity and turn the fate of the match. However, first Liston Colaco, after dancing his way past the defenders and keeper blasted the ball wide, then Harmanjot Singh’s strike hit the Pune FC defender and Klins Mendes’ 30-yard strike was headed away by Muirang Wungngayam.
Salgaocar FC’s loss proved to be Pune FC’s gain where they went on to fire two more goals in injury time through their ever reliable striker Ashique, who was later rewarded with the Man-of-the-Match award of Rs 5,000 by GFA’s Vice President Lavino Rebello.
