By Joseph Solomon,
AIFF Media Team
NEW DELHI: Odisha continued their sterling form in the ongoing 37th Sub-Junior National Football Championship as they thrashed Meghalaya 5-1, in a Group A fixture at the Ambedkar Stadium in the Capital on April 18, 2016. With this win, Odisha progressed into the Semi-finals of the Championship as winners of Group A.
In what could be dubbed as a match of two contrasting halves, Odisha let Meghalaya dictate the tempo in the first, and took the game by the scruff of its neck in the second half.
Despite Odisha took the lead in the 14th minute through Suraj Malha, who slotted the ball into the bottom left corner after a tacky one touch play with Bekey Oram, it was Meghalaya who did most of the attacking.
Meghalaya attacked with fluidity, but were left reeling as opportunities fostered lacked the final finishing touches, while some attacking chances were thwarted clear by a compact Odisha defence. The half-time scoreline read 1-0 in Odisha’s favour as Meghalaya failed to make the most of their opportunities.
In the second half, Odisha punished Meghalaya for not taking their chances and as early as the 48th minute, Bekey Oram’s rasping shot from outside the box left the Meghalaya custodian wrong-footed and ended up in the back of the net as Odisha doubled their lead.
Two minutes later, Oram once again popped up around the 18 yard box and exquisitely lobbed the ball over the onrushing opponent custodian to make it 3-0 in Odisha’s favour. Dula Murmu hammered the ball home to make it 4-0 for Odisha in the 73rd minute, while in the 75th minute Brundanban Munda's curling shot from the right flank ended up in the back of the Meghalaya net as the score-line read 5-0.
Meghalaya pulled a goal back in the dying embers of the match through Darmiki Tariang as the full-time scoreline read 5-1 in Odisha's favour.
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