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The Final Round match of 31st Punjab State Super Football League saw debutants Minerva Punjab FC hold defending champions Rail Coach Factory in the second game of the Final Round played at the SRS Ambedkar Football Grounds, Dolike in Punjab.
Minerva Punjab FC Gaffer Juan Luis Perez Herrera made a handful of changes to his line-up from the one which last played against Central Reserve Police Force on Saturday as he Replaced Custodian Arshdeep Singh in favour of former DSK Shivajians goalkeeper Rakshit Dagar under the woodwork along with Kamalpreet Singh, Sukhdev Saini, Kassim Aidara and Salman Lateef forming the backline. Mumbaikar Akshay Pashilkar, Vanlalkima and local lads Amandeep and Akash Sangwan were brought in to guard the midfield as Gagandeep and Belarusian hitman Dzmitry Kwob formed the striking pair for the Mohali based club.
The Game started on a positive note for the Mohali based club as they were all over their opponents from the whistle go! Akshay Pashilkar who scored a hattrick against Sri Harigobind Sahib FC took an early shot at the goal in the 4th minute but RCF’s custodian made an acrobatic save to deny them a lead. The next couple of minutes saw solo efforts of Akash Sangwan and Gagandeep Bali’s effort denied as they missed the target by inches. The final minutes of the first half saw brilliant combinations by Kamalpreet, Gagandeep Bali and Salmaan Lateef swifiting past the opponents defenders but missing the final touch to break the deadlock. Both teams went into the lemon break with the score board remaining unchanged as Minerva Punjab FC were guilty of missing over a dozen of chances to score in a majorly dominated first 45 minutes of the game.
The second half saw a miscommunication amongst the Minervan backline as RCF players made tyhe best of it as he pulled an opener to give the defending Champions a 1-0 lead, the Minerva Gaffer soon made some quick changes as be brought in former India U-19 player and AIFF Academy product Moinuddin in favour of Mumbaikar Akshay Pashilkar and Girik Khosla in favour of Salman Lateef to add some fresh legs to the Warriors attack, the move payed off well as Moinuddin and Girik paired up well to creat some attacks which Belarusian Dzmitry Kowb failed to convert as he saw himself being replaced by Bhutanese Ronaldo Chencho Gultshen who made his presence felt from the very first minute as me created some dangerous moves to find the equaliser. However Minerva’s German born French import Kassim Aidara pulled one back to equalise the score as the game ended with a 1-1 scoreline.
Minerva Punjab FC maintained their unbeaten streak in the Punjab League, They next play Punjab Police on November 3.
