By Rajarshi Chakrabarty
Aizawl FC went into the match with the intention to win all three points as last of their remaining two I-League games at home and was successful to end their winless streak beating Arrows 3-0 at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium on Friday
.
Indian Arrows Coach Luis Norton de Matos went in with a 4-3-2-1 as Edmund Lalrindika played like a ”False Nine" supported Jeakson Singh and Nongdamba Naorem on both sides. While Santosh Kashyap played a conventional 4-4-2 formation with Leonce Dodoz and Lalkhawpuimawia leading the line and Andrei Ionescu playing in the attacking midfielder role.
Not playing a proper striker did not help the young side as they could not build up any attack in the scoring zone as Edmund Lalrindika found himself alienated from the midfielders.Aizawl FC used the space between Arrows midfield and striking line to control the game from their own half as Alfred Jaryan, Lalthanga Khawlhring and Andrei Ionescu controlled the midfield and piled attack on the Arrows defense from the onset.
As a result, the goal came on just 7th minute for Aizawl FC as number 9 Lalkhawpuimawia danced around Sanjeev Stalin to lose the right back and delivered a low cross into the six-yard box which Prabhsukhan Gill failed to collect and parried into the path of an advancing Ionescu who scored with a simple tap-in to make it 1-0 for Aizawl FC.
It did not take Aizawl FC long to double their lead as Laldinliana threaded a brilliant through ball and Puimawaia made an incisive run between the two Arrows defenders to find himself on a one-on-one with the goalkeeper but his initial shot found the bar post but the number 9 made no mistake to capitalize on the rebound to give Aizawl 2-0 lead with just 16 minutes into the game.
It Aizawl FC who dominated the game with clever one-twos and the attacking trio of Dodoz-Puimawaia and Ionescu tormented the Arrows defense as the young colts were made to stretch and lose their shape at times.
Aizawl went into the halftime with a 2-0 lead and looked in complete control of the game.Back in the second half, the first chance fell to Leonce Dodoz as he found himself in a scoring position with the goalkeeper at his mercy but his powerful shot bounced off the cross-bar and went out.
The young Arrows side found themselves in a rare opportunity on the 50th minute, as defender Anwar Ali found himself in an unusual position with only the goalkeeper to beat but lack of finishing did him in, as Avilash Paul pulled off a save from close range.
On 53rd minute Dodoz and Ionescu played a brilliant "one-two" on the edge of Arrows box to split the defense but Ionescu hit it straight to Arrows keeper much to the disappointment of the home crowd.
Aizawl maintained their domination in the second half, as Dodoz kept on tormenting Arrows from the left and on 65th minute the Ivorian was unlucky not to score from his brilliant diagonal run down the left into the box and unleashed a left-footed shot which flashed across the face of the goal to miss the target.
Ionescu missed another easy chance from a promising position on 73rd minute as the Romanians left-footed effort sailed over the bar.
Deep into the game, on 87th minute Aizawl FC stamped their authority on the match with a third goal taking advantage of the Arrows playing high on the pitch as Dodoz evaded a tackle from Lalengmawia at the halfway line to release Puimawia for a brilliant through ball and the Mizo striker scored his second of the night to make it 3-0 for Aizawl FC.
Lalkhawpuimawia was adjudged the Hero of Match for his two goals(16' and 87') and an assist.
Aizawl is placed 6th on the league table with 21 points as they go into the final two I League games of the season against Minerva FC(away) and Gokulam Kerala FC(home) before beginning their AFC Cup 2018 campaign against Bengaluru FC on 7th March 2018.
No comments:
Post a Comment