AIFF Media Team

BHUBANESWAR: SSB Women bounced back to winning ways in the Hero Indian Women’s League with a jubilant 7-1 victory over Mata Rukmani FC on Sunday, April 24, 2022. Sumila Chanu scored a magnificent hat-trick for the West Bengal side.

SSB Women dominated the proceedings right from the start and found their first breakthrough on the 18th minute. A poorly-cleared ball landed right into Sandhya Kachhap’s feet and the forward made no mistake from close range to put the ball past Mata Rukmani goalkeeper Meena Kashyap.

At the half-hour mark, the team from Siliguri doubled their lead. Naorem Sumila Chanu cut in from the left flank and passed the ball to Ngangom Anibala Devi. The midfielder took her chance from long range and her perfectly-struck ball hit the roof of the net. Before the break, Meena Kashyap made a costly error as the Mata Rukmani goalkeeper turned a dangerous corner kick into her own net, making it 3-0 for SSB Women.

After switching ends, the Chhattisgarh-based side looked more composed than before. However, Sumila Chanu produced a moment of brilliance with a scorcher of a shot from long range to make it 4-0 in the 48th minute. Within a couple of minutes, the SSB Women No. 9 scored another off a deflection to take the game further away from Mata Rukmani’s reach.

Nevertheless, the losing side pulled one back through Kiran Pisda. The forward capitalised on an error made by goalkeeper Manju just before the hour mark. But it certainly looked to be SSB Women’s day at the Capital Ground as Sandhya Kacchhap scored her second with yet another outside-the-box strike to make it 6-1 in the 63rd minute.

To put an end to the game, on-fire Sumila Chanu scored another belter from distance to complete her trick and hand the three points to SSB Women.