MARGAO: Manipur overcame Maharashtra 5-4 in a trilling encounter to move ahead in the U-18 Girls Junior Nationals football tournament, at Raia panchayat ground, Raia, on Monday.
Manipur opened the scoring through their ace striker and captain, N Ratanbala Devi in the ninth minute.
Stunned by the early goal, Maharashtra regrouped quickly and equalized in the 12th minute through the boots of Bhagyashree Dalvi. Kasmina and N Ratanbala Devi combined well and were a class apart upfront for a strong Manipur side boasting of 10 international players in their side.
The striking duo of Kashmina and Ratanbala combined to score three quick goals in the 18th, 24th and 28th minutes to give Manipur a commanding 4-1 lead at the half hour marl.
The three quick goals which included a hat-trick from N Ratanbala Devi stunned Maharashtra but they slowly started to get a grip and their dependable midfielder Smriti Girish started pushing the ball forward into the oppositions half.
Maharashtra’s resilient efforts bore fruit and Bhagyashree Dalvi pulled one goal back in the 39th minute.
Coming out of the half-time break, Maharashtra seemed to have one clear vision and that is to attack the opposition’s goal. The whole team had a different level of energy and zeal to get into the oppositions half and put tremendous pressure on the Manipur backline and goalkeeper.
The captain of Maharashtra, Pooja Dhamal scored a goal in the 56th minute to bring Maharashtra closer with a score line of 4-3.
The goal made the match a very interesting affair with both teams working extra hard to get a control of the match. Maharashtra kept pressing for an equalizer and did come up with some good attempts on goal but Manipur’s backline stood strong and the midfielders started playing defensive half positions roles to thwart all attacks made by Maharashtra.
With Maharashtra making all efforts to find the all-important equalizer started leaving big gaps in their defense and one such lapse was exploited by Manipur with a good counter-attack goal by Kashmina in the 79th minute giving Manipur a comfortable 5-3 lead with just over 10 minutes left on the clock.
Maharashtra did not back down and kept moving forward. There was good crowd support for Maharashtra and they kept urging them to move forward. Maharashtra managed to pull one goal back with a goal from Jyoti Mehra in the 90th min but it was a little too late for Maharashtra and Manipur walked away deservedly victorious with the final score of 5-4.
Maharashtra now take on Bihar on October 14, at 7.30 a.m.
In another match, Bihar got the better off Jharkhand with an injury time goal to give Bihar a stunning 4-3 victory.
Bihar took the lead l in the sixth minute of play from the boots of forward Shyama Rani.
Jharkhand found the equalizer in the 18th minute with Purnima Linda finding the back of the net.
India international Archana Kumari put Bihar ahead with a goal in the 35th minute and Bihar went in the lead with a slim margin of 2-1.
Being a goal down, Jharkhand went into an attacking mode and started putting a lot of pressure onto the opposition’s goal. Anamika Kumari scored in the 41st minute to restore parity for Jharkhand and both teams went into the half-time break with a score line of 2-2.
Jharkhand came out of the half time break with an attacking mode and scored in the early minutes of the second half with a goal by Puja Kumari in the 48th minute to give Jharkhand a 3-2 lead.
Jharkhand held on to the lead for a long period of time and the game seemed to be poised to go in favour of Jharkhand with very little time left on the clock. Bihar backline and midfielders slowly started to move forward and taking risks and chances to find the equalizer. The experienced Shyama Rani scored a goal in the 85th minute and the teams were now on equal footing with 3-3 margin.
The equalizing goal brought in new energy into the Bihar side which exploited the opportunity and kept pressing to find a winning goal before the end of regulation time. Against all odds, Bihar scored a stunning winning goal in injury time with Neha Kumari giving Bihar a big psychological 4-3 victory over Jharkhand.
