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Minerva Punjab FC U-18s squad reached Delhi yesterday to take on J&K Bank in the opening encounter of the U-18 I-League Rest of India Zone C qualifying Round being held at the Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi.
The early morning 8.30am kick-off was a one sided encounter from the first whistle as the Minervans set the pace of the game and started flooding the J&K Bank box with relentless attacks. In the 7th minute Bodo Baoringdao, who has played for the Minerva Punjab FC senior I-League side too, opened the scoring. As the match progressed the Minervans continued to dominate the game, teasing the J&K players with lovely possession football. In the 43rd minute Anirudh Thapa who also plays in Minerva Punjab FC senior I-League side combined beautifully with winger Ajaruddin Shaha to score the second for Minerva Punjab. Just before the half time break, Minerva custodian Bharat Thapa, who did not have his best day, conceded an easy goal as Basit Ahmed scored for J&K Bank. The score read 2-1 as the lemon break.
The second half started with more intent from the Minervans who seemed to be insulted by the goal that they had so shabbily conceded before the half time whistle, picked up pace and flooded the J&K Bank territory with beautiful one-two combinations and penetrating runs into the box. J&K Bank who were just a goal behind showed some intent for the equaliser in the early minutes of the second half. But Minerva Punjab captain and prodigy Krishna Pandit came to the rescue as he scored in the 53rd minute to double the lead.
As J&K Bank were recovering from the goal, Bedashwor Singh combed beautifully with Bodo to put his name on the scoresheet in the very next minute. With a comfortable three goal lead, the Minervans were once again in cruise control mode. After a lot of hard work and wasted efforts Basit Ahmed of J&K Bank managed to get another goal for his side in the 65th minute. But, in the 81st minute Bodo scored another goal for the road and made the final score 5-2 in favour of the Minervans.
Minerva Punjab FC colts next face off against LoneStar Kashmir FC at 4pm on Saturday, April 22 at Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi for their second encounter of the U-18 I-League Rest of India Zone C Qualifying Round.
