The Goan Network
MARGAO
A triple strike by striker W Ranjibala Devi helped holders Manipur to crush Delhi 4-2 and enter the finals of Junior National U-18 Girl's Football Championship at Rosary grounds, Navelim on Monday. Manipur led 4-0 at half time.
Manipur started off in fine fashion using short pass to a nicety for their build-ups and committed far less errors than Delhi who also often lost the ball possession. They never gave Delhi the space to settle down as they played with a lot of confidence and self belief. Kashmina played a perfect foil for Ranjibala Devi as she troubled with her pace and skill .Kashima opened the flood gates in the very 4th minute when she received the pass from midfielder Premi Chiru and the former beat the rival goalkeeper Ketaki Tyagi with neat finish .Spurred by the success , Manipur upped the ante and tormented the rival defence with well orchestrated raids .Ranjibala Devi who was fulcrum in her team attacks doubled the lead in the 33rd minute when she punted the ball to the far corner of the net. Delhi's fortunes went down hill in the 35th minute when she outwitted couple of defenders and beat the rival goalkeeper with adroit placement .Ranjibala Devi completed her hat trick in the 43rd minute when she beat her marker off pass from Premi Chiru pass ,Earlier their captain N.Ratanbala Devi suffered a leg muscle pull and was replaced .
The goal dried up in the opening sessions despite Delhi's attempts to reduce the margin while but no shots on target .
Post resumption , Delhi put up an fast improved display and never allowed their strong rampaging forwards to manoeuvere inside their penalty area with Vanshika Rana stood like a rock and frustrated their attacks .Delhi had a chance to reduced the deficits when substitute Mariya Khan hoodwink couple of rival defenders but her carpet drive went straight into the safe hands of Manipur goalkeeper Unithongambi Devi after Chetna Dhadwal done the spade work .
At the other hand, Manipur had couple of scoring chances but rival goalkeeper brought up superlatives saves . Delhi reduced the margin through spot kick after striker Anushka Samuel goal bound shot was handle by rival defender M.Achoubi inside the penalty area . Anushka Samuel herself converted the spot kick to send the rival goalkeeper in wrong way .Anushka Samuel who was in thick action scored a brace when she beat the rival goalkeeper with carpet drive in the injury time .
Manipur coach L Dinamani Singh was elated with the margin of victory .The girls played well today and wants to build on this performance and felt victory shared across the squad .We conceeded the silly goals as my girls relaxed after taking 4-0 cushion in the first half ,she said .
Delhi coach Daljit Singh Bist was all praise for her wards .Going down by only 2-4 margin to a fancied team ,is not a bad result said Bisht . Delhi played better in the second half and our defensive approach in the opening sessions back fired us and nothing worked us pointed out Bisht .
In another semi final , Odissa blanked Bihar 4-1 at Panchayat Ground, Raia
. Odisha were a better side took the lead early with Swarnapriya Nayak scoring a goal in the 7th minute of play to seize control of the game. Suman Pragyan Mohapatra and Jasmani Samad combined really well upfront for Odisha and put a lot of pressure on the Odisha defense from the opening whistle. Bihar team were given very little room to move and were no match for the Odisha strong midfield players Sasmita Behera, Anima Malik, Arati Sethi and Swarna Priya Nayak who controlled the tempo of the entire match. Laxmi Munda marked Bihar star forward Tara Khatoon very well and cut her long runs down the right flank which had terrorized teams in the earlier encounters. Odisha captain Anima Malik made some really good passes to the forwards, sometimes putting the ball through 2-3 defenders and finding her team-mate forward on the run to perfection. One of such passes found Jasmani Samad who scored a goal for Odisha in the 34th minute to put Odisha ahead with a comfortable margin of 2-0. Against the run of play, Bihar got a lucky break with a Penalty resulting from a hand-ball from one of the Odisha defenders. Shama Rani made no mistake from the spot and pulled one goal back for Bihar in the 37th minute of play. The half-time score read 2-1 in favour of Odisha. The second half saw a total dominance of Odisha and the ball was mostly played in the Bihar territory. Odisha has one of the strongest defense line in this tournament with Janaki Murmu and Jabamani Tudu having a towering effect in the backline and have conceded only 2 goals in the quarterfinals league, the least among the 8 teams that had made it to this stage of the tournament. Shyama Rani worked tirelessly for Bihar and kept pushing the ball forward and driving her team to score a goal. Jasmani Samad got her second goal in the 68th minute to give Odisha a 3-1 lead with little over 20minutes left on the clock. Odisha plays a proper team game and distributes the ball well among the team members. Odisha gets every member involved in the game with very unselfish play with a sense of poise and composure even when put under pressure by the opposition team. Susan Pragyan Mohapatra put the icing on the cake for Odisha with a strong volley to put the ball in the back of the net in the 79th minute for the final score of 4-1 to propel Odisha in the final .
Manipur will meet Oddisa in the final on October 21 at Rosary Ground, Navelim, 7.30 am
