Pune FC fail to break Shillong jinx

Playing without their star striker Jeje Lalpekhula,who was involved in a freak accident during their match against Air-India last week,Pune FC was hoping to exorcise their past demons against Shillong Lajong FC by hoping to beat them at their home turf in Shillong.

Playing without their star striker Jeje Lalpekhula,who was involved in a freak accident during their match against Air-India last week,Pune FC was hoping to exorcise their past demons against Shillong Lajong FC (SLFC) by hoping to beat them at their home turf in Shillong. Head to head,the two teams have drawn three matches and Shillong has won the other three encouters. Going into their match on Saturday,PFC were looking to continue their unbeaten run of ten games,the longest so far by any team in the league,to score three away points.

The game began with Shillongs traditional attacking style. Even though they had lost two of their last six encounters and drawn the other four,they were not going to go down lightly to a team that has slowly been climbing the league charts. Also,with the sting gone from the PFC attack,they were relying heavily on their defence.

In the sixth minute of the game,SLFC earned a free kick outside the PFC D only to see it fly safely out. Even after that SLFC continued to dominate proceedings. It was very evident that PFC were just trying to see out the initial minutes of the game. With the air getting chilly at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium,PFC continued to block the attacks on their goal.

Goalkeeper Abhra,who is fast becoming one of the better keepers in the league,effectively blocked strikes from Lyngdoh and Menyongar. The duo within the first 30 minutes of the game set up a number of shots only to be denied by the PFC defence or the goalkeeper.

The second half began with PFC continuing to hold fort against the SLFCs attacking game playing style. However,PFCs first real chance came in the 48th minute when Subhash missed an easy scoring shot after SLFC keeper had mistimed his effort to collect the ball. The ball,however,was quickly dispatched away by the SLFC defender. Barely three minutes later,a brilliant run saw the SLFC mid-field run through the PFC defence. While Abhra managed to reach out to the ball,he mistimed his dive. SLFC striker Tuboi saw the ball slip out and without losing any time,he put the ball in the PFC net.

Following this,SLFC began attacking in waves while PFC tried the same on counter attacks. The game remained confined mostly to the mid-field with PFC desperately trying to equalise. In the 72nd minute,PFC were awarded a penalty kick that was converted into a goal by Keita. After the goal,PFC looked to go one up as they began attacking furiously from the right flank with the Karma-Subhash duo forcing the SLFC defence to actually come out and attack rather than wait for the PFC to take over.

In the 84th minute,Abhra had to be replaced by the reserve keeper Amrinder after a nasty tackle with Tuboi left him reeling on the ground. The game which had a six minute injury time period saw PFC desperately try to break the Shillong Jinx,with Arata Izumi,who came in as a substitute,passing the ball to Subhash who took a crack at the ball only to hit the roof of the SLFC net.

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PFC,who were sitting pretty comfortable with 27 points,would have prefered to gain full three points to break in with the top teams of the league. However,following the draw they will have to settled for just one point.

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Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium