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Mohammedan Sporting Club proved a goal too good for Hindustan FC as they notched up their second victory in the ongoing Second Division League at the Ambedkar Stadium in Delhi on Sunday morning.
In a closely contested Preliminary Round Group-B fixture it was substitute Vanlalbiaa Chhangte’s shot from distance in the 44th minute that gave the visitors full points.
The win takes Mohammedan Sporting into second position with six points, behind Southern Samity on goal difference, while Hindustan FC stay rooted to bottom spot and yet to open their account after three games.
Playing their first away game of the season, Mohammedan Sporting coach Ranjan Chaudhury made the only change to the starting XI that beat NEROCA last week, bringing in Phoolchand Hembrom for Pranit Lama Tamang.
Mohammedan Sporting began the game on the front foot attacking the rival goal consistently in the opening quarter, but with Hindustan FC defending in numbers on the edge of the box, Mohammedan Sporting were finding it tough to penetrate.
The visitors took 18 minutes for their first shot on target and it came from Manvir Singh who tried his luck from edge of the box with a grounder but the rival goalkeeper Mithun Samonto was well positioned.
As the half progressed, Mohammedan Sporting increased the pressure on the rival goal. Around the hour mark, Leonce Dodoz skipped past a couple of defenders on the left and cut back from inside the box. The ball was cleared and landed in the feet of Dipankar Das but the midfielder lacked juice in his boots to get the better of rival goalkeeper.
Mohammedan Sporting didn’t give up and continued to push ahead and broke the deadlock minutes before the interval through Vanlalbiaa. Dodoz embarked on a lung-busting run down the right flank and delivered for an unmarked Vanlalbiaa, who played a fantastic one-two with Dodoz before unleashing a piledriver from out side the box.
In the second session both sides battled hard in the midfield. While Mohammedan Sporting had the better chances to go further up, Hindustan FC also had their chances to equalise.
Having created numerous half chances, Mohammedan Sporting went extremely close on two occasions midway through the session. First it was Dipendu Dowary whose attempt was close range was denied by the keeper after being set up by Dipankar in the 62nd minute.
Then the rival custodian Mithun followed it up with another fine save five minutes later, this time to block Dodoz who smashed a powerful low drive on a free kick eight yards outside the box.
The tempo of the game slowed down towards the end and it was lack of finishing that prevented a bigger scoreline as the game ended 1-0 in Mohammedan Sporting’s favour.
Mohammedan Sporting next plays Southern Samity at Barasat Stadium on Saturday, February 11.
