Last Update: January 11, 2023, 23:24 IST
Rajasthan United FC beat Srinidi Deccan FC (Twitter)
Rajasthan earned all the points on offer against Srinidhi Deccan as Kyrgyz defender Aidar Mambetaliv’s solitary strike was enough to settle the encounter in favor of the desert warriors.
Rajasthan United registered a 1-0 win over Srinidi Deccan FC in their I-League 2022-23 match at the Ambedkar Stadium on Wednesday.
A winter’s evening couldn’t have been hotter than this as Srinidhi Deccan FC thought they had salvaged a point in the dying moments of the match through David Castaneda’s tenth goal of this I-League season, only to see that it is disallowed for offside. Despite a few minutes of fierce protests, the match ended in favor of Rajasthan United.
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It was a fitting end to a tie that saw end-to-end action at times and was settled by a lucky strike from Rajasthan’s Kyrgyz defender Aidar Mambetaliv. He was rightly declared the hero of the match for standing like a rock in defence.
The game was a tale of two halves – the first being owned by the home team and the second being mostly owned by the Deccan Warriors. But Pushpendra Kundu’s side remained on the winning side as they bottled up top-scorer Castañeda from the outset and forced Srinidhi’s fulcrum Faisal Shayasteh to collapse.
The bookings started early in the second half, much to the desperation of the Afghans. It is telling that Castaneda managed only two attempts on goal in the entire match – one of which was a disallowed goal in the 95th minute.
The undisputed leader of Rajasthan’s attack that day was their Kyrgyz midfielder Atai Dzumashev, who along with William Nehsial owned the left side of the field.
It was Atai’s solo run from the left that created the first chance of the match in the ninth minute. He played a perfect center back for new signing Leon Dodoz, who could not manage a proper touch throughout the match. The ball fell to Ramsanga but the winger could not get it past the feet of Srinidi goalkeeper CK Ubaid.
Atai fumbled again and again, his next cross falling to Dodoz, who again missed the opportunity. This time from a goalbound scramble, the ball bounced past an unmarked Lliansanga at the top of the box. He unleashed a powerful right foot which was saved by Ubaid, who was diving to his left.
Despite creating chance after chance, Rajasthan had to wait till the 43rd minute for a goal. The attack came, predictably, from the left. Although this time, the chronicler was Neihsial. Eder’s flicked header from the near post somehow sprung Ubaid and his defenders out of the net.
Srinidi came back with renewed vigor in the second half and earned three back-to-back corners in the 49th minute, all to no avail. In the 50th minute, a brilliant throw from Arjit Bagui found Rosenberg Gabriel’s body at the goal but neither he could control it nor Ashir Akhtar collected the rebound. The defender’s left footer flew over the crossbar.
Within five minutes the pressure started telling. Rajasthan defender Melroy Assisi was the first to fumble, his unnecessary foul on the edge of the box giving Srinidi a free-kick. Faisal did his best this time with a superb dipping left foot shot but it was blocked by Mohammad Rafiq Ali Sardar on the crossbar.
Rajasthan came very close to making it 2-0 in stoppage time when Beitia’s free-kick found Atai’s head just in front of goal but Ubaid made an incredible save from point-blank range.
With this win, the hosts have moved to the fourth spot in the table with 18 points.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)