Spirited Kenkre FC come back to thwart ONGC

by Kaushal Shukla September 20, 2015

Kenkre FC put in an inspired second half display to hold last season’s runners up ONGC to a 1-1 draw in an Elite Division game held at Cooperage on Sunday, 20th September 2015.

The game was a tale of two halves as the first one was dominated by ONGC, while Kenkre had the better of the second one.

It took ONGC a good part of the opening quarter of an hour to get their game going against an organized Kenkre outfit.

But the oilmen stepped up the pressure as they made numerous surges into the Kenkre box.

Soon in the 32nd minute, ONGC made the pressure count when Kailash Patil did extremely well to head back a pin point cross from the right flank into the path of Parminder Singh who dispatched it into the roof of the net and put his side in front.

ONGC threatened to double the lead before the interval but Kenkre did well to stay in the game as they went into half time trailing to the Parminder Singh goal in the 32nd minute.

Inspired by some harsh words from Head Coach Salim Pathan, Kenkre came out of the blocks in the second half very quickly.

The quick start surprised ONGC who were forced onto the back foot by Kenkre. Taha Kachwala was causing plenty of problems for the ONGC rearguard with his darting runs in the box, but lack of a killer pass let him down.

Despite not enjoying any success in the first fifteen minutes of the second half,Kenkre kept up the tempo in attack.

Kenkre Head Coach Salim Pathan threw Arish Sutaria in the mix to add bite to the attack and his presence on the pitch, gave ONGC plenty to think about.

Finally in the 75th minute, Kenkre got the reward for their patience as Egypsio Noronha got Kenkre FC level with a truly astonishing strike from twenty five yards which flew over the ONGC custodian.

A lose clearance from a long throw-in from Kenkre fell to Noronha who skipped a couple of challenges before unleashing his shot.

Kenkre almost went into the lead a couple of minutes later, when a header from Arish Sutaria came off the upright. Fortunately for ONGC, it fell to their player who was able to clear the danger.

ONGC who had a chance to open up a two point lead over title rivals Air India who dropped two crucial points on Saturday, pressed hard for a winners in the last ten minutes, but Kenkre held firm and thanks to some neat goalkeeping from second half substitute goalkeeper Joe Paul Bence, Kenkre secured their first point of the season against their much fancied opponents ONGC.