A late bounce by ARA FC spoiled the party for Corbett FC, who looked set to take three points in their opening match in Pool B in the ongoing I-League Qualifier at Bangalore Football Stadium here. It was a well-timed assist from Die Hamiddu to Vladislav Nuriev, who scored the equalizer in the 75th minute, ending the hard-fought contest in a draw.
Earlier in the game, Corbett FC hardly wore on as a budding team as they started their campaign with a structured attack. He created potential scoring opportunities within the first three minutes of the game, putting just the right amount of pressure on the ARA FC defense.
Building on a strong attack, Corbett FC shed first blood in the 16th minute when a cross by Jacob Vanlalhimpua was beautifully picked up by Himanshu Patil, who made no mistake to bowl the ball past ARA FC goalkeeper Sukhdev Shivaji Patil. A 1-0 lead gave Corbett FC exactly the start they were looking for in their first appearance and it put ARA FC completely on the backfoot, desperate for those elusive goals in the next minutes Went.
Young goalkeeper Dheeraj Prakash Meher for Corbett FC excelled in his defense to keep his team in the game. During the game, Corbett FC’s Naveen Rawat, Subodh Kumar and Sohail T scored a goal each, while Himanshu scored three goals with the last one in the final minutes of the game, but his effort was slightly off the mark.
Although a goal behind, ARA FC made a brilliant effort on goal in the 21st minute when Omkar Shivaji More did a good job to overtake the Corbett FC defenders, who assisted Alan Diori, who hit the ball into the net. Put but made an off-side call by the referee. Deprived them of the equalizer.
In the following minutes, both teams tried to play through the middle and keep the ball, with midfielders on both sides repeatedly working hard to win the ball back to their respective teams. Corbett FC’s star striker Himanshu created another brilliant opportunity for his team in the 32nd minute but his cut-back for Naveen Rawat could not be exploited. With a defender running behind him, Rawat’s shot goes too far off target.
Overall, there was a fierce contest between the two teams in the first half. While the newcomers did well to take the lead, ARA FC got the better ball and took six shots on target but failed to convert.
By halftime, Corbett held a 1-0 lead with ARA FC in the draw. However, in the second half, ARA FC made amends from their poor start as they stitched together an improvised attack and kept the Corbett strikers at bay. He continued to hold the ball and made space in the middle to create scoring opportunities.
While ARA FC’s star striker took eight shots on goal, Alan Diori and Omkar took three each, while Bala and Tigga took two each. But his breakthrough came after a clever substitution by coach Vivek Nagul in the 75th minute. Nuriev ran over a cheeky pass from Dia Hamidou, and threw it into the back of the net.
Although a late charge was imposed for Ahmedabad’s side to earn three points, the match ended with a 1–1 scoreline, with both teams winning.
In their next match, Corbett FC will face Kerala United, while ARA FC will face Delhi FC on 7 October 2021.
read all breaking news, breaking news And coronavirus news Here. follow us on Facebook, Twitter And Wire.
.