Kenkre tasted yet another defeat in the Hero I-League as we lost to TRAU FC in last night’s match at the Naihati Stadium.
After two consecutive losses, coach Akhil Kothari, looking for the first three points of the campaign, made six changes to the starting lineup that lost to Gokulam Kerala FC. Padam Chettri made his debut for the club and Akeraj started the game for the first time after making a decent cameo in the previous match against Gokulam Kerala FC. Pravitto, Vijay, and Ranjeet made their way back to the starting eleven and Al Azhar made a comeback as well to lead the side against TRAU FC.
The Manipur-based side began proceedings in a beautiful under the lights setting at Naihati Stadium.
Kenkre FC showed early signs of promise as in the 5th minute of the game, a lofty ball from the right flank found Pravitto whose header went wide.
TRAU FC opened the scoring in the 13th minute of the game. Douglas Veloso found the back of the net from a corner and gave his team an early lead.
Pravitto and Arvind formed a good pair in the 16th minute and made a good run on the right-wing. Arvind earned a free kick just outside the box. Khongsit took it and found Vijay, who failed to put it in the back of the net.
The right flank was top-notch in the first 25 minutes as Pravitto, Arvind and Akeraj were combining well. They looked dangerous and creative down there. In the 26th minute, a cross came from that side found Ranjeet whose towering header was a whisker away from perfection.
In the 28th minute, Akeraj took advantage of the space he found inside TRAU’s box and came close to leveling the score. He took a shot which was cleared by TRAU’s defense.
We managed to hold more possession and had more shots at goal. The boys went full throttle after conceding earlier but the quest for the equalizer continued. At the break, we went to the dressing room with a goal down.
To find a response, coach Kothari made a double substitution at the break and brought in Yash for Ranjeet and the experienced Lester Fernandes came on for Arvind.
After a solid first half from the boys, TRAU FC showed their determination in the second half and kept putting pressure on us. In the 48th minute, TRAU FC made their pressure count as Manash Gogoi doubled their lead with an overhead kick from Samte’s corner kick.
TRAU FC winger Fernandinho took a low shot in the 57th minute and forced Padam Chettri to make a save. Our custodian brilliantly denied TRAU FC an opportunity to score their third.
In the 64th minute, TRAU captain Krishnanand Singh got a decent pass from Samte and scored his side’s third goal with a volley with his left foot.
In the later stages of the second half, the boys showed good attacking intent and kept pushing for the consolation goal. Chances after chances went begging but we could not take advantage of them. We kept a good hold of possession in the final third and put a good number of crosses into the box but failed to get a goal back.
Nothing spectacular happened as the referee blew the final whistle in the 90+5th minute and the game ended in another loss for us.
We will face league leaders Mohammedan Sporting Club on 21 March.
FT: TRAU FC 3-0 Kenkre FC