AIFF Media Team

NEW DELHI: Riding on Striker Shubham Sarangi’s hat-trick All India Football Federation’s Goa Regional Academy defeated U-16 Betalbatim SC 4-1 in a Friendly Match at the Chowgule Sports Complex in Goa.

Sarangi scored in the 9^th, 12^th and the 25^th minute to complete the trick as AIFF Academy led 3-1 at the half-time. Abuthaheer scored the fourth goal in the 60^th minute. The AIFF Academy fielded two different Teams in both halves.

Coach Narayana Menon praised his lads after the match. “It was nice to see the boys playing to a plan and keeping possession. They were never concerned about the age, size and strength of their rivals,” he told www.the-aiff.com.

It was one-way traffic right from the kick-off. Sarangi scored the first goal when he placed it past the rival Goalkeeper after Abhijit Sarkar’s through pass had found him in the clear. It happened in the 9^th minute.

The score was doubled three minutes later when Sarangi cashed on a faulty clearance and lobbed it over the onrushing Goalkeeper. And then, the hat-trick was completed in the 21^st minute when he cut in from the left and hammered it in.

The rout was completed post resumption when Abuthaheer, who had substituted Sarangi, blasted in a volley from around 35 yards.