I-League: Pune FC beat Dempo SC 1-0

In the first minute of the game,captain Venkatesh send the ball flying to Arata Izumi who took it on the chest guiding it into the hands of the DSC player Laxmikant Kattimani. Moments later,a sharp counter attack saw Ranti Martins Soleye run in solo but his effort was ruled out as offside. A free kick earned by him moments later saw the ball crash into the PFC wall. The attack continued on the PFC defence but it negotiated it comfortably. When Ranti took a shot in the 10th minute of the game,Amarinder who looked shaky in the previous match,fended off the attack well.

However,the 19th minute saw Izumi strike a well recieved ball right in front of the second post of the DSC goal. Izumi,who was barely a foot out of the DSC goal,struck the ball past a hapless Kattimani. Following this,PFC led a renewed charge under Keita Mandjou and Arata Izumi. Keita even came close to scoring when he found an empty net after Kattimani had come too far out but he shot wide. Soon after,DSC had their chance of the game when a rare lapse of concentration by Venkatesh almost saw the ball go into the PFC net only to be kept out by stretched legs of Gurjinder Kumar.

Dempo clearly looked a better side in the second half with Climax Lawrence forcing Amarinder to make a save in the opening minute. Pune FC were trying to attack but were losing the ball on counter attacks frequently. In the 58th minute,in an attempt to win a pass for his team,Keita misread the rolling ball only to stumble upon it and fell down in pain as his injury halted the play. The match saw Dempo pace their attack to find an equaliser with both Climax Lawrence and Ranti Martins making repeated attacks at the PFC goal,only to be thwarted by Amarinder.

In the five minute injury time,Amarinder made another startling save as he held onto a ground shot by Denzil. In the last five minutes,Dempo made as many as five attempts,all of which were close calls. Even though,Anas Edathodika was the man of the match,the hero of the match for PFC was clearly their goalkeeper Amarinder,who in the absence of injured Abhra,stood his ground to deny Dempo from scoring and thereby getting his side three vital points to take their tally to 31.