Prakash strikes to help HASC earn draw

A third-straight loss was on the cards for HASC for more than ninety minutes before a penalty in the second minute of stoppage time led to RC Prakash striking from the spot, giving the Bangalore side a 1-1 draw on Sunday.

Captain Josimar da Silva had given the Kolkata outfit a deserved 1-0 lead after some good individual play from the forward.

HASC now lie ninth with twenty points from nineteen games while Chirag are in seventh spot with 24 points from eighteen matches.

For most part of the match, there looked like being only one winner as Chirag controlled the proceedings and despite a lacklustre first half, should have gone into the break leading by at least two goals.

The first good chance fell to Lal Kamal Bhowmick, who found himself in a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper R Pramod after Josimar had played a nice through pass behind the HASC defence. Bhowmick, though, panicked in front of goal and shot high and wide.

Goalward shot
A little later, Josimar found some space inside the box but his goalward shot was brilliantly blocked by Liliyan Kennath. Josimar’s strike partner Junior Obagbemiro then should have opened the scoring, but his header from six yards out, off a long throw, smacked the crossbar.

The goal finally came for Chirag in the 79th minute. Josimar took a pass from S Malsawm Tulanga

 and powered his way into the box down the right, getting past three HASC defenders before firing a shot which goalkeeper Pramod managed to block. But the Chirag striker was quick to pounce on the rebound, poking the ball home from four yards out.
It looked Chirag would hold on for full points but an innocuous looking ball from Malengamba Meitei changed everything.

Meitei played a long pass into the box towards Prakash, who, under pressure from three defenders, fell down leading to the referee pointing to the spot. Prakash himself took the spotkick, despatching it to goalkeeper Somnath Khara’s left, in what was virtually the last kick of the game.

“We had a defensive lapse and we gave away the goal,” Sanjay Sen, Chirag coach, said. “The ground was probably the worst we have played on, but absolutely no excuses for gifting HASC the draw,” he added.