Chirag knock HAL’s lights out

A tough midfield battle then ensued resulting in a good save from Prabhakar as he parried away a Mousuf Naizan shot. Pauly then took a cross from the right on his chest but the resulting shot was weak. There were chances,but none were being converted,unfortunately for both teams’ sake.

The deadlock could have been broken in the 21st minute,when Chirag United’s Girish AV muffed a chance to go ahead after he found himself one on one with the HAL goalkeeper—who pulled off a spectacular save—following a well-placed pass from Mousuf Naizan.

The Naizan-Girish combination failed to put their in team front yet again as the striker couldn’t make the most of a through ball delivered precisely by his teammate. And the cat-and-mouse battle continued till the 31st minute when the Kerala outfit won themselves a corner.

The HAL defence failed to clear the floating ball,only for the prolific Pauly to hammer in Chirag United Kerala’s first goal of the game. The HAL defence was then subject to a barrage of attacks from thereon but Chirag just couldn’t put them away.

But the unrelenting pressure then resulted in a second goal for Chirag,which came in the 67th minute with Rahul Raj heading in from a corner. Raj then scored his second goal in the 87th minute to seal a comfortable victory for his team. A curling cross from the left flank by Abhil B was what had set up Raj’s second goal,followed by the jubilant striker indulging in a victory dance. Chirag United Kerala’s fate now depends on other results in the tournament as they now stand equal with Air India and Pune FC on three points,but with the other two teams having played an extra game.

Result:Chirag United Kerala 3 (Anoop Pauly,Rahul Raj 2) bt HAL 0