Revamped Chandigarh holds Manipur to a 1-1 stalemate on day 3 of Santosh Trophy

by Spandan Paul March 22, 2018

21^st March,2018 Kolkata: The 3^rd day of 72^nd Santosh Trophy witnessed a barren stalemate played out between Chandigarh and Manipur; in what was the revival match for both the teams of group A after massive setbacks in the first one. Ngangbam Naocha struck the opening goal for Manipur in the 25th minute while Vivek Rana equalised on the behalf of Chandigarh in the 65th minute.

There were as many as 4 changes to the vanquished Manipur side that lost to the defending champions Bengal 3-0; with Manoharmayum Aboy Sharma, Netrajit Singh, L.S Hiisupulu, Thoudam Ngouba Meitei coming in place of Ningon Chihang, Tondomba Singh, Oinam Premeshwor Singh, Sushil Kumar Singh.

Sandeep Singh, the Chandigarh head coach, kept faith in his boys and made just one change to the line-up that suffered a heavy defeat against Kerala in their previous match with Deepak Kumar the U-21 midfielder making way for Pankaj Singh, to bolster the midfield.

The match started with both the teams switching to attacking mode in search of an early lead. While Chandigarh seemed more aggressive of the two, Manipur made sure to avail every possibility of counter attack as the first real chance of the match fell to them in the 5^th minute.

It was indeed a staggering counter from Manipur after a Chandigarh corner was parried away by Manipur goalie. But Manoharmayum Sharma‘s looping header kissed crossbar after a fine delivery from Chanso through the right flank. The crossbar was again a denying factor 4 minutes later when Chandigarh Midfielder Barjinderpal Singh hit a scorcher but unfortunately for him, the ball hit the woodwork and came back.

Promising movements took place from both the sides thereafter, but some solid defending into the final third kept the deadlock intact. Chanso Horam, who made life miserable for the Chandigarh defense, with his incisive runs from the right flank, had his attempt saved in a spectacular fashion by Manvir, the Chandigarh goalie, in the 18^th minute after Nikhil Pasher got the first booking of the match, a minute earlier .

Manipur’s drew the first blood through a counter attack against the run of the play when Ngangbam Naocha found the back of the net in the 25^th minute to break the deadlock. It was a defence-bisecting through ball from Chanso, as Ngangbam latched onto it and produced a clinical finish past the Chandigarh custodian as his shell-shocked backline watched on .

Manipur would’ve pulled ahead in the 37^th minute had it not been for the crossbar again. This time it was Netrajit, whose long range shot caught Manvir, the Chandigarh off-guard; as the ball went past him only to rebound back hitting the crossbar. Apart from few rare moments it was Chandigarh who had a lion’s share of possession but lacked fire in the final third.

Barjinderpal Singh squandered a golden opportunity when Chandigarh was rewarded with a freekick from a dangerous position, just at the edge of the box. They again came agonisingly close, to make it square at the stroke of halftime when their captain Pawandeep Singh curled in a free-kick. But a diving save by the Manipur’s goalie, Salam Singh denied Chandigarh the equaliser as they went into the break with a goal down.

The North-western side resumed with much more vigour and seemed set to restore the parity sooner than later. They again had a glorious opportunity in the 60^th minute when Harminder singh took a brilliant run from the half line going past 3 defenders in the course with deft touches; but was undone by poor decision-making when he tried to play a minus to his right instead of shooting from a narrow angle since he had only the Manipur goalkeeper Salam Singh to beat.

Finally, they managed to equalise in the 65^th minute courtesy a fine strike from Vivek Rana-the U-21 forward, when he guided a low cross from the right flank by Vishal Sharma into the net much to his side’s relief. That equaliser completely slowed down the highlanders as they flooded the defense to resist the tremendous pressure brought on by Chandigarh in search of the winner.

Nevertheless Chandigarh still found some opening but couldn’t capitalise owing to poor finishing. Harminder lead the way but his beautiful through forward was too tough for the substitute Sandeep  to place the ball past Manipur goalie, who rushed out of his territory to inflict a terrific save followed by another, off a long range attempt from Harminder in the dying minutes of the game!

Manipur and Chandigarh remain at the bottom of Group A after sharing the honour. Manipur next faces Kerala on Friday, March 23 while Chandigarh will face Maharashtra on the same day.