JOIN USRobin leads BFC to final
Riding on a hat-trick from international Robin Singh, Bengaluru FC (BFC) drubbed South United 6-1 to storm into the finals of the Puttaiah Memorial Cup at the Bangalore Football Stadium here on Wednesday.
The experienced C K Vineeth scored two goals while N S Manju netted the other in the big win while Subash scored the lone South United goal. BFC will face Army Service Corps (ASC) in the summit clash on Saturday.
Adopting a 4-3-3 formation that saw Robin playing in the centre with Vineeth and Beikhokhei Beingaichho on either wings, BFC surged ahead in the sixth time. Beingaichho’s free-kick found Vineeth inside the box and the former United SC player despatched the ball into the roof of the goal with a acrobatic kick over his head.
Dominating the game, the I-League champions doubled their lead in the 28th minute. Again it was Vineeth who was the scorer, slotting into an empty goal after United keeper Kabir had done enough to save a powerful Robin strike.
The game slipped further from United’s grasp in the 39th minute, as their lethargic defence allowed Robin to make it 3-0. Beingaichho’s clever pass found Robin within eight yards from the goal and the former East Bengal forward made no mistake in slotting it home.
BFC came close to increasing their tally time and again in the second half but Robin kept falling into the offside trap, prolonging his team’s wait. The Delhi lad made amends, scoring off a Vishal Kuamr pass in the 49th minute to make it 4-0 for the ‘Men in Blue’.
United pulled one back through a delightful goal from Subash in the 66th minute but it was too little too late as goals from Robin in the 69th minute, which helped him complete his hat-trick, and Manju in the 80th minute meant the blue brigade went marching in to the summit clash.
Earlier, Income Tax beat Jawahar Union 4-0 to move into the semifinals of the Prassana Kumar Memorial Cup. Ahamed (28th minute), M Lokesh (75th minute), Manoj Kumar (76th minute) and Stephenson (78th minute) found the back of the net for the tax men.