New Delhi: Defending Champions Prayag United routed second string Pune FC 2-0 to cruise into the finals of the 124th Durand Cup played here at the Ambedkar Stadium today. Pune FC who fielded a second string side in the tournament owing to the upcoming coming I-League finally felt the heat as Prayag United dominated them during the major part of the game.
The match started on a rather slow note with both the sides failing to go past the midfield area. The first real chance of the match came in the 10th minute for Prayag when Joshimar De Silva failed to head in a lovely cross from Gauranga Biswas playing at the left wing position. Two minutes later Pune blew away their first chance of scoring when Maninder Singh’s shot went way over the post.
Pune had one more shot at the cherry in the 22nd minute when a brilliant pass by their striker Douhou Pierre from the left could not be converted by Lester Fernandez who came running into only to kick the ball over the post. The match saw some nervous moments during the next couple of moments as both the sides created close chances, and Prayag should have scored in the 28th minute when Lukram James set Joshimar nicely in the box with a pass from the left, but Pune FC’s custodian Shahinlal Meloly made a lovely diving save to his right to send the ball out for corner. Prayag United drew the first blood in the next minute when Lukram Singh’s scored from a zero degree angle after his curling header from the right corner deceived Meloly who could not judge the ball as he was distracted by Yusuf Yakubu’s jump.
Mid-fielder Lester Fernandez and Maninder Singh were playing exceptionally well in the midfield and did create many goal scoring opportunities, but due to a stringent marking of his strikers by the defenders of the Prayag United especially Bello Rasaq and Arnab Mondal did not allow them to make any inroads. Bello Rasaq was playing superbly in his central defending position.
Prayag got a real good chance of opening up the gap even more in the injury time of the first half, when Joshimar wasted an easy as he shot it over the post after he received a pass from his supporting striker Yakubu.
After the change of ends, the defending champions upped the ante and within the third minute of the second half had a go at the Pune FC’s goal when S. Malsawm Tlunga who came in as a replacement for Denson Devadas in the half time shot marginally off the target after he was set in by Yakubu.
Both the teams created possible chances during the next half an hour of the proceeding without getting any success. With 10 minutes left, Prayag’s coach Sanjay Sen brought in New Zealander striker Kayne Vincent in for Yakubu. One minute later, Prayag got the second goal of the match when Kayne beautifully set in Joshimar at the top of the box, who shot in a angular low footer to find the right corner of the net to seal Pune's fate.
Pune FC could have narrowed the goal lead, but they missed an absolute sitter when Paresh Shivalkar of Pune delayed to kick the ball past Meloly after he droppedthe ball in the box.
Prayag United’s coach Sanjay Sen was quite happy to enter the tournament’s final for the second successive time. “I am very happy with the team performance and would like to keep up this consistency. Because we are a small team and right now are struggling to make our name. So more than the win I am happy to see the boys performing consistently,” added Sen. Prayag United would now face the winner of second semi-final taking place tomorrow between Churchill Brothers and Shillong Lajong in the finals to be held on October 15th.
By Samikshan Dutta Choudhury
Indian Sports News
