Tegh Bahadur football: Infants stun Real Pune with second-half comeback - Hindustan Times
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Tegh Bahadur football: Infants stun Real Pune with second-half comeback

Hindustan Times, Pune | ByOumar Aga, Pune
Nov 24, 2019 04:27 PM IST

Infants FC will now face Dastur Meher Road (DMR) FC in the quarter-finals.

After a dramatic comeback in the second half of the game, Infants FC thrashed Real Pune United 5-2 in the nineteenth edition of the Guru Tegh Bahadur Football Tournament at the College of Engineering Pune (COEP) ground on Saturday.

Players of Infants FC (Yellow) during the Tegh Bahadur Football tournament at COEP ground, Shivajinagar in Pune, India, on Saturday, November 23, 2019.(Rahul Raut/HT PHOTO)
Players of Infants FC (Yellow) during the Tegh Bahadur Football tournament at COEP ground, Shivajinagar in Pune, India, on Saturday, November 23, 2019.(Rahul Raut/HT PHOTO)

Infants were a couple two goals down inside the first 10 minutes, but a second half masterclass from the strikers helped the side overturn the two goal deficit, ensuring the team’s progression into the next round. Infants FC will now face Dastur Meher Road (DMR) FC in the quarter-finals.

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Quickfire Goals!

Real Pune United started the game on the front foot and looked the more threatening side. Infants FC, who chose to sit back in the opening minutes were punished inside five minutes by attacker Abhishek Shinde. Shinde, who had opened the scoring for his side in the previous match against NYFA, helped his side stamp their authority on this game by scoring the first goal from an easy tap in, after the ball was whipped in from the left flank by Swapnil Pawar.

Infants FC retaliated as they launched a couple of attacks through the middle. Skipper Elias Naidu’s freekick from the edge of the box brushed the top of the crossbar and a minute later, his header from a corner was off-target. Building up from the back, Real Pune went on the attack, using the full width of the pitch and won a corner in the process. Pawar, who had scored and assisted in the previous match took the corner which was cleared straight back to him. Pawar adjusted his footing and curled a shot from a very acute angle, as it flew past the keeper and into the right side of the goal.

Following the second goal, Pawar had another opportunity after he was put clean through on goal by Shinde, but this time the Infants keeper, Richard Stanislaus, stepped up and emerged on top in the one-on-one situation.

Game On!

After failing to get three free-kicks right, Infants FC won another free-kick which was about 10 yards away from the Real Pune box. Amol Wadekar lofted a very gentle ball in the penalty area which came straight to Naidu. Naidu, who had fluffed his lines twice already in the game, made no mistake in his third attempt as he escaped his marker, brought the ball down and smashed the ball into the back of the net.

In the process of conceding the goal, Real Pune keeper, Vaibhav Chavan, went down clutching his shin and was eventually replaced by substitute keeper Rishikesh Memane. With the deficit now down to just one goal, Infants seemed more keen and hungry on the attack. Memane sprung into action as soon as he came on. Samuel Singh’s effort from a free-kick on the left flank produced a brilliant save from Memane who got his fingertips on the ball, and pushed it on to the crossbar, and eventually out for a corner.

In the closing stages of the first half, Infants FC’s Raju Wawre whipped in another deadly ball into the box which came off the arm of a defending Real Pune player. Every Infants FC player appealed for a penalty, but the referee asked the players to play on, leaving Infants fuming at the end of the first half.

Parity!

In contrast to the first half, Infants FC started the second half on the front foot. The first attack was, yet again, launched by Elias Naidu. The Infants’ skipper received the ball inside the box and his effort was tantalisingly close, but rolled past the wrong side of the post. Seven minutes into the second half, Infants won another free-kick on left flank. The ball was swung in by Steffen Kate and Arvind Pillay was the first to reach the ball, and toe poked it into the net.

After coming from 0-2 down to level the score 2-2, the momentum completely shifted in favour of the boys in yellow. Infants were menacing on the attack while Real Pune failed to complete simple passes. Real Pune eventually launched an attack through Swapnil Pawar, who was their best player on the pitch. But even Pawar failed to break the Infants defence down. Pulling off a few feints on the left flank, Pawar did manage to get in the box, but his run was thwarted by keeper Stanislaus.

The game picked up pace after the leveller, with both sides switching to a counter-attacking tactic. Midway through the first half, it was an end-to-end game, with wingers of both teams bombing down the flanks.

Comeback Complete!

The most bizarre goal of the match was the goal which put Infants FC in the lead for the first time in the game. Yet another attack came from the right flank as Infants winger Amol Wadekar crossed the ball in with power. The cross, however, just curled towards the keeper Rishikesh Memane. Memane failed to grab the ball and fumbled, as the ball bounced off his chest and dropped inside the goal, giving Infants the lead in the most peculiar fashion.

Real Pune was caught napping yet again just two minutes after they allowed Infants FC to comeback and take the lead. Naidu doubled his goal tally on the day as he escaped he dribbled past the center-back and calmly slotted the ball home to give his side a comfortable two-goal lead. Panicky Real Pune attacked with all they had, but had to keep one eye on the defence as Infants FC were just sitting back, waiting to break on the counter attack.

Four minutes were added on in the second half, as Real Pune were still unable to break Infants down. Another tame attack from Real Pune resulted in an Infants counter-attack. The three attacking players of Infants - Amol Wadekar, Elias Naidu and substitute Velarian Anthony - toyed with a single Real Pune defender with their quick passing before Anthony buried his effort in only a few minutes after coming on. Anthony’s strike made it five for Infants FC who completed a dramatic comeback to enter the quarter-finals of the tournament.

From the bench

Elias Naidu, Infants FC, captain. (Rahul Raut/HT PHOTO)
Elias Naidu, Infants FC, captain. (Rahul Raut/HT PHOTO)

“We made some silly mistakes and that is why went two goals down so early in the game, but thankfully we have a lot of experienced players in the team. After pulling a goal back, we remained calm and simply took the opportunities which fell to us. We played simple passes in the second half, did not let our guard down and patiently waited for our opponents to commit a mistake.”

- Elias Naidu, HT player of the match, captain, Infants FC

Sachin Langute, Real Pune United, captain. (Rahul Raut/HT PHOTO)
Sachin Langute, Real Pune United, captain. (Rahul Raut/HT PHOTO)

“The pressure we were under after they pulled a goal back hampered our performance. If we would have remained calm and told ourselves that we were still in the lead, the outcome could have been different. But unfortunately, we were under pressure and quite panicky. That led to clumsy passing, reckless challenges and it just keeps going downhill from there. The team needs to work on patience.”

- Sachin Langute, captain, Real Pune United

Results: Matchday 4

Valley Hunters 0 (4) bt Ashoka XI 0 (2) on penalties

Blue Stag Sports Academy 1 (5) bt Khadki Blue 1 (3) on penalties

Matthew FA 2 (Vaibhai Sonawane, Siddhant Vardha) bt Sai FA 1 (Niranjan Dhavle)

Infants FC 5 (Elias Naidu x2, Arvind Pillay, Amol Wadekar, Velarian Anthony) bt Real Pune United 2 (Abhishek Shinde, Swapnil Pawar)

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