By Minerva Academy FC Media

LUDHIANA: Minerva Academy FC U-18 boys registered a thumping 8-1 win over Fateh Hyderabad AFC in the U-18 I-League match played at the Guru Nanak Stadium in Ludhiana on Wednesday.

Coming into the match high on confidence, the Young Minervans took no time to stamp their authority as Shubham Sarangi run riot the opponents and scored 4 of the 8 goals.

In the 2nd minute of the game itself, Amarjit released Shubham Sarangi with a beautiful ball and the later made no mistake in putting the ball pass the Hyderabad GK. The Hyderabad boys tried to absorb the pressure but just as when they seemed to found their foot, Jatinder doubled the lead for the Pride of Punjab in the 15th minute.

There after, the Minervans run riot the Fateh defence with flurry of attacks but failed to find the 3rd. Against the run of play in the 31st minute, it was Fateh Hyderabad’s Sai Kumar, who capitalised on a defensive error of Muneesh Kumar and pulled one back for his side.

The goal however infused more energy on the home team as Subham Sarangi scored his 2nd goal of the morning nine minutes later. Rizul ran down the right flank and sent in an inch-perfect cross. All Shubham had to do was direct the ball to the goal and he did exactly that.

Four minutes later, Subham was in the thick of action again when Rizul’s freekick found him inside the 8 yards box. His header however kissed the bar. Just at the stroke of the half-time, Abhishek Pathaniya out of no where unleashed a scorcher which hit the post and bounced back to play.

With those two close chances, the match went into the break with Minerva Academy FC leading 3-1.

Change of end saw the Minervans come all-out as they scored 3 goals within eight minutes to snatch away the match from the reach of the Hyderabad boys.

First, it was Subham Sarangi who completed his hat trick in the 47th minute before he scored his 4th goal of the match [5th of the league] five minutes later. Jatinder also got another goal in the 53rd minute with the scoreline reading 1-6.

Six goals didn’t slow down the boys as they were looking to score more to catch up with the goal difference that Lonestar Kashmir FC enjoyed over them. They kept the pressure on and the 7th goal in the 68th minute when Salman Lateef rose the tallest of all to head in a Kamalpreet corner kick.

They continued to display their hunger even in the injury time as Anwar Ali headed in another Kamalpreet corner to make it 1-8.

Meanwhile, Lonestar Kashmir FC and Bengaluru FC playing out a 2-2 draw in the second match. Hence, Minerva toppled Kashmir FC and are two points clear at the top with a massive goal difference of 10.

Minerva Academy FC next play Lonestar Kashmir FC on Friday, 18th of December at 11.00 AM.