Sayantan Maitra
I-LEAGUE Media Team
NEW DELHI: Punjab lad Gagandeep Singh produced a Star performance and scored a goal to helpe his side Hindustan FC register a 1-0 victory over LoneStar Kahmir FC in a Round 2 encounter of the Rest of India Group A game in the U-19 I-League being held at the Ambedkar Stadium in the Capital.
Gagan slotted home with ease in the 49th minute of the game to draw first blood for the home side, and following 90 minutes of play, the scoreline remained the same.
The result takes the Delhi outfit to the top of the Group with four points earned from two games.
From the first half itself, both sides were into loggerheads, creating chances right from the start, but following 45 minutes of a fast-paced encounter, the scoreline remained goalless.
The Kashmir outfit, coming into their game following a hard-battled 2-2 draw against Bengaluru FC colts in their debut match, were lively right from the start, creating a flurry of chances. Assar Mohd, who scored the debut goal for the side in the last match, created plenty of attacks for his side.
The first real chance of the game for Hindustan FC came in the 30th-minute mark when Mayel Lepcha gave a great through ball to Ramthing Jajo, but before the latter could pull the trigger, LoneStar custodian Shabir Hussain collected the running ball comfortably.
Doing well with all the running was also HFC frontman Dilli Ram Sanyasi, but his passes were not accurate enough.
The home side’s left winger, Gagan, did some tireless work for the home team, doing all the running and providing great crosses.
Farhaan Ganai missed a great opportunity to draw first blood for the home side in the first half after his shot from the free-kick from right outside the box was well over the goal.
The second half started with HFC completely dominating proceedings, and LKFC were reduced to just mere spectators.
Following the 60th minute mark, the Kashmir outfit tried coming back to the game with the help of their lanky striker Danish Farooq. The Kashmir lad tried creating a lot of space inside the box, but HFC left-back Shiv Shankar had him marked tightly throughout.
Danish’s shot on goal was punched away by Norden Lepcha, but the ball fell for Wasiq Imitaz, who skied it moments later.
The final real chance for LKFC came in the 70th minute when a Great ball was played in from, in from Suhail Bhatt from the corner, but even that was headed wide by Danish.
The Kashmir outfit tried hard to make the comeback but following 90 mins of the match, they couldn’t secure the equaliser.
