Exemplary Pune FC trounce brave Kenkre FC

by Kaushal Shukla November 27, 2015

Pune FC played a superb second half to sink hosts Kenkre FC 2-0 in the Maharashtra zone of the U-15 Youth League at Cooperage on Friday evening.

The home side who had suffered three back to back defeats in the competition started the game brightly looking determined to right those wrongs. The visitors dealt with the early zeal in Kenkre FC’s play well and slowly got into the game post the ten minute mark.

Pune FC’s midfielder Cladeo Nongpluh began to give the Kenkre half line plenty of problems as some of his fine turns and clever passes got Pune FC bombing ahead.

The hosts realized that they were losing the midfield battle and got tight to Cladeo and stopped the flow of Pune’s attacks.

Kenkre started to suffocate the Pune FC midfielders, giving them no room to get their passing game going. Tackles were flying in and the home team was almost a beneficiary in the 22nd minute when Krish Adhikari nicked the ball off Pune FC’s Shreepad Dogre to send Jay Bhavnani through on goal. Bhavnani showed great pace to charge clear past the Pune FC defence but couldn’t fire his shot past the Pune FC goalkeeper.

Pune FC made a change in the 36th minute as Shreepad Dogre was replaced by Aryan Irani in midfield. The change proved to be inspiring as Pune FC seized control of the game as half time approached.

Cladeo Nongpluh who was the brightest player on the pitch had a great chance in the 38th minute to fire Pune FC in front after he received a cut back from the right side. But his shot after easing two Kenkre FC defenders out of the way went wide of the target.

Pune FC finished the half strongly, but couldn’t go into the break with a lead as the tie remained deadlocked at the interval.

After an early spell of Kenkre possession in the second half, Pune FC had the best chance of the game as the ball fell to Ishan Dey in the box with a virtually empty goal to score into, but a last ditch tackle from the Kenkre centre back saved the day for his team.

However he couldn’t stop Pune FC from taking the lead in the 61st minute when Cladeo Nongpluh fired a fierce left footed shot into the bottom corner.

Kenkre FC’s response to going behind was a good one as they got on the front foot pushing Pune FC behind. But the hosts lacked the killer pass needed to unlock a stern Pune FC defence.

As Kenkre pushed forward, Pune FC began to find spaces in the Kenkre FC rearguard. The visitors eventually exploited the gaps and a sweeping move in the 73rd minute saw Ishan Dey bag Pune FC ‘s second of the game to all bit end the game as a contest.

Once the result was safe, Pune began to play with plenty of swagger in their play and missed a glorious opportunity to add a third goal in the 80th minute when Mozaffar Ali blasted over the crossbar after some excellent work on the left flank by Pune FC.

Pune FC’s Aryan Irani’s shot was crucially palmed away by the Kenkre FC shot stopper A. Irani five minutes from time as he kept the scoring down for the visitors.

However Kenkre couldn’t force a late comeback as Pune FC closed down yet another win in the Maharashtra zone of the U-15 Youth League to cement their position at the top of the table.

Kenkre FC gave a good account of themselves and had their moments in the game, but were done by Pune FC side who found a new gear in the second half which the hosts failed to live with