The debut season for the Indian Arrows is set to go down to the wire after their 0-1 loss to Viva Kerala at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium here on Saturday.
The win takes the Kerala outfit to ninth place with 25 points while the youth development side lies a spot below them on 23 with just three points separating them from bottom-place HAL Bangalore.
Arrows coach Desmond Bulpin was without three key players for the bout against Viva Kerala due to chicken-pox while two more were busy with college examinations.
The visitors began to press forward early, drawing first blood in the 18th minute thanks to a Felix Chimaokwu strike set up by I-League IV's highest Indian goal scorer Anil Kumar's precise cross into the box.
Arrows strikers Jeje Lalpekhlua and Manandeep Singh were marked well by Viva Kerala enforcers Bello Rasaq and Sherin Sam.
Despite an admirable fightback in the second half by the Arrows, Felix's goal separated the two sides as the four minutes of injury-time ran out.
Bulpin said, "We didn't compete in the first half. When you don't compete, you lose."
{{/usCountry}}Bulpin said, "We didn't compete in the first half. When you don't compete, you lose."
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