West Bengal prove too good for Madhya Pradesh

13 Apr 2016

By Joseph Solomon,

AIFF Media Team

NEW DELHI: West Bengal blanked Madhya Pradesh 3-0 in a Group B fixture of the ongoing 37^th Sub-Junior National Football Championship at the Ambedkar Stadium in the Capital on April 13, 2016.

It was one-way traffic throughout the match as West Bengal attacked from the first minute. In the 3^rd minute, a glitzy one touch play by West Bengal failed to earned dividends. Three minutes later, West Bengal rattled the crossbar as a delicious cross from the left flank was met with a decent volley from inside the box.

It was not long before West Bengal attacked again. And in the 19^th minute Hassan Ali Molla slipped past the Madhya Pradesh defence line and tried a cheeky shot, but his effort hit the outside of the left pole and went out.

In the 30^th minute, West Bengal finally took the lead as Hassan Ali Molla’s thumping header from a corner kick ended up in the back of the Madhya Pradesh net as the scoreline read 1-0.

Four minutes later, Kartick Golder scored directly from a free-kick, 25 yards out, to double West Bengal’s lead. The half-time scoreline read 2-0 in West Bengal’s favour.

West Bengal picked off right where they ended the first half, on an attacking note, and in the 50^th minute, Ali Molla darted down Madhya Pradesh’s right flank in search of his second. But Molla’s finesse shot from an acute angle went wide of the goal.

With West Bengal dominating possession and controlling the tempo of the game, Madhya Pradesh found it difficult to even enter their attacking third, as Madhya Pradesh were largely reduced to the midfield by West Bengal.

In the 63^rd minute, Lucky tried to find the West Bengal custodian offguard as he shot from 20 yards, but his shot got lost in the jungle of legs present around West Bengal’s 18 yard box.

Madhya Pradesh could only soak up the attacking pressure by West Bengal throughout the course of the second half. West Bengal tripled their lead through Pintu Murmu in the dying embers of the match as at the end of time the score-line read 3-0 in West Bengal’s favour.