Ranjeet Pandre’s opening goal went in vain as a spirited Kenkre FC lost the lead to go down 1-2 to Sreenidi Deccan FC in today’s Hero I league encounter.
Head Coach Akhil Kothari made five changes to the side that lost 1-0 to Aizawl FC last time. Al Azhar, Aniket, Arya, Siddharth & Ranjeet found themselves in the starting lineup today.
Sreenidi Deccan started the proceedings and went into the attack. In the opening minutes, there were moments of panic inside our box. But the boys stood strong and were able to avert all dangers.
The team had their first sight of goal in the 6th minute of the game when Ranjeet went in on the attack and took a shot which was cleared with ease by the opposition defense.
In the 8th minute, Sreenidi Deccan’s Lal Chungnunga headed the ball past Tenzin, but the linesman raised his flag for offside. In the 14th minute, Nam put his body on the line and cleared the ball from Lalromaiwa’s shot.
The boys kept the opposition defence under pressure as they created plenty of chances. Going on a counter-attack, in the 19th minute, Vijay made a run on the left flank and passed the ball towards Ranjeet from outside his right foot. The forward got the ball, went around the opposition goalkeeper, put the ball back in the net, and gave us the lead.
In the 22nd minute, Lal Chungnunga equalized for the opposition from a long-range free-kick.
In the 26th minute, Tenzin stepped up and made a stunning save as he denied David Castaneda giving Sreenidi Deccan the lead.
In the 34th minute, Vijay made a run into the opposition box and took a shot, but the Sreeinidi goalkeeper cleared the ball for a corner. The boys created few chances late in the first half but failed to capitalize on them as the first half ended with the game level at 1-1.
The second half started with aggressive intent from the boys. In the 47th minute, Arya took a shot from close range, but Sreenidi skipper Dinesh cleared the ball. The boys continued to put pressure on the opponents as in the 53rd minute, a great through ball from Arya found Ranjeet, who tried to chip it over the opposition goalkeeper, but the effort went over the bar.
In the 60th minute, Nam gave the ball away under pressure to Sreenidi’s Castaneda. He took advantage of the situation and finished the ball in the bottom left corner to give the opposition the lead.
The boys made some attacking moves in the final phase of the match but could not manage to equalize as we fell short by a goal, and the game ended with another defeat for us.
Next, we will take on Neroca FC on 5th April 2022.
FT: Sreenidi Deccan 2-1 Kenkre