Chandigarh girls upset Manipur to lift Sub-Junior NFC trophy

by Chittu Shetty November 7, 2017

The Chandigarh team, led by Kavita, stunned hosts Manipur at their own backyard, recording a 3-1 win at the Imphal Sports Complex to lift the title

A brace from Anju along with Pooja gave a Chandigarh a 3-0 lead before an injury time goal from Manipur brought some respectability to score line. Interestingly this is the first and the only goal conceded by visiting team in the whole tournament.

Tournament leading goal scorer Anju broke the deadlock in the 37th minute to give Chandigarh a lead. Soon in the second half the lead was doubled through a goal scored by Pooja. Anju continued her fine-run in the tournament with another goal in the 87th minute to finish of the game. However, Manipur did manage to break the strong Manipur defence in the dying minutes of the match, (91st minute) but that was not enough to stop visitors from lifting their maiden trophy.

“The girls were inspired from the Indian women team’s Asia Cup victory ahead of the football final. They thought if India could beat the fancied China in the final, Chandigarh could also rattle last year’s finalists Manipur. They maintained the focus and aimed for a win in the final,” said Chandigarh team’s coach Manish Kumar.

Also Read: Indian Women League Qualifiers schedule are out

Chandigarh 3 – 1 Manipur

The strong performance from the girls got immediate recognition from AIFF as seven players from the winning team were called up for an Indian U-14 team camp to be held in Kolkata from November.

Selected players: Kavita, Anju, Poonam, Manisha, Pooja, Kiran, Varsha and Tanu (Standby).

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