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On the back of a thumping nine goal win over East Punjab FC, Minerva Academy FC confirmed their place in the next round by getting past Doaba United FC with a 1-0 win this time around.
Minerva Academy FC made two changes to the starting lineup for the second match of the Punjab Super League qualifiers.
The Doaba United team were no strangers to Minerva Academy FC, as nine of their eleven starting eleven players were former Minervans – including Randeep Singh (ex-Mohun Bagan) Salman Lateef, part of the AFC Cup squad of Minerva in 2018/19, Baldeep Singh who made 12 appearances for the Indian National team, one of which was against Bayern Munich in Baichung Bhutia’s testimonial, Gagandeep Singh Ghattaura, former Mohammedan Sporting, Parminder Singh, represented ARA FC in the I-League qualifiers last season, Inderjit and Manvir Singh.
It was clear that Minerva Academy would have to work hard for the three points against a very solid and experienced Doaba United.
20 year old Anwar Ali led the team from the back in supreme style yet again. His organisation of the back four and superb positional play were pivotal to Minerva’s overall gameplay as well as keeping the opposition forwards at bay.
The home side started with more finesse and sharpness from the start and enjoyed the lion’s share of possession. Doaba were unable to sort their feet out in the early exchanges and were restricted to soaking up the early onslaught from the home side. Nikhil, Radhakanta, Shaiza and Mohit all had half chances for Minerva but couldn’t quite get the goal to show for all their dominance. On the other side Doaba’s frontline got a few shots away but couldn’t find the target either. Doaba then had some spells of possession and a few chances during the half hour mark but the impressive centre back duo of Anwar Ali and Karthik Bisht stood firm. Doaba even had a free kick on target denied acrobatically by the Minerva custodian Suraj Mallick. Minerva regained control towards the end of the first half but Doaba held on to go inside the tunnel goalless.
Anwar Ali head coach Yan Law introduced Victor Ekomobong at half-time replacing Shaiza. Minerva started the second half much like they did the first and Mohit nearly scored a belter from 20 yards out right after the restart. His shot however didn’t dip enough to creep under the bar. Radhakanta then had another chance just a few minutes later but this one went well over the bar. Opposition goalkeeper was called into action again moments later to tip over a header by Nikhil Mali. Nikhil was left in disbelief soon again as his header to an inch perfect cross by Kartik from the flank.
Substitute Ekomobong decided to take matters into his own hands and scored against the run of play at the hour mark. The gaffer’s gamble paid off and Minerva now had a goal to the good.
Opposition striker had a great chance on the other end of the pitch to equalise with just a quarter of the match left, but nerves got the better of him and he fired his shot over the bar. Another onslaught from Doaba United followed but goalkeeper Suraj Mallick made some stunning saves at the death to keep Minerva’s lead intact. His double save in injury time was by far the moment of the day.
A tightly contested match saw a total of 6 players from both sides going into the referee’s book. Nikhil got another chance to round off the victory for the Warriors in the dying seconds of the match but the opposition goalkeeper made a good save to deny the Minervan forward. The miss however didn’t cost Minerva as Ekomobong’s goal was enough to give the home side the victory.
