Holders HASC scored the solitary goal in the 73rd minute through striker J Murali, who converted a spot kick. The penalty was awarded when skipper Xavier Vijay Kumar struck the ball on to CIL forward Roy’s hand inside the penalty area. Murali powered he ball past the outstreched right hand of CIL goalkeeper N Venkatesh.
CIL applied pressure on the HASC defenders with good play inside the box but none of their forwards was able to score. HASC were rusty and slow to begin with. Their passes were off by a mile and their defence looked shoddy. With neither of the teams converting their chances, the score was tied 0-0 at half time. Upon resumption, several chances went astray before HASC took the decisive lead. CIL nearly equalised with a minute to go through Chand Pasha, but HASC goalkeeper Amar Deb denied him with a diving save as HASC opened their season campaign on a winning note.
In the day’s first match, Rail Wheel Factory posted a 4-2 win over Dharmaraja Union.
Results: RWF: 4 (Prakash 43rd, Regin 70th, 78th, Naveen Babu 75th) bt DU: 2 (Robin 41st, Stephan 81st); HASC: 1 (J Murali 73rd) bt CIL: 0.
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