Depleted HASC held by entrants Dharmaraja

Deepak's late goal stuns defending champions

Having lost their previous match to ASC 1-4, HASC were eyeing full points against Dharmaraja to get their campaign back on track, and appeared on course when Prakash Koley put them ahead in the 50th minute. However, Deepak’s late strike emphatically dashed their chances, leaving them with plenty to do over the rest of the season.

HASC struggled to find their rhythm early on as Dharmaraja controlled possession. Ravibabu and Anup troubled the HASC defence with some smart manoeuvres, the former making a firm strike at goal in the 15th minute that was well saved by HASC custodian Pramod.

The Aircraftmen’s first real chance in the 24th minute was floundered when an Malemngamba Meitei collected a long pass from James Singh and went hard at goal, only to see the ball go over the crosspiece.

The I-League outfit had another opportunity in the 43rd minute, again featuring Meitei, when he latched on to a short pass from captain Murali and hit a measured shot. An advancing Dharmaraja custodian Hariharan missed the but to HASC’s agony, Anup kicked the ball to safety just as it was about to cross the goalline.

A charged-up HASC finally broke through early in the second sesson, Koley blasting a right-footer past Hariharan after receiving a long pass from Rajendra Prasad.

With time running our, HASC looked assured of full points until Deepak played spoilsport. Making his way almost unchallenged dpwn the right wing, Anup launched an elevated cross and Deepak wasted no time heading in the equaliser in the 85th minute.


Other results: ‘A’ Division: Southern Blues: 7 (Suresh Lion 12th, 47th, A Bakar 30th, Udaykumar 48th, Chandrashekar 5th, Lawrence 69th, 70th) bt BWSSB: 0.
‘B’ Division: Jawahar Union: 5 (Hriday 7th, Robin 22nd, Nirav 43rd, Ragav 53rd, Akilesh 57th) bt Sree Gajanana: 0; Queen Star: 2 (Chetan 9th, Manju 15th) bt Minerva: 1 (Rohit Tripati 24th).