Real Kashmir make winning start to I-League

Second Division champions Real Kashmir makes a winning start to their I-league campaign as they beat Minerva Punjab at their own backyard...

Gnohere Krizo's solitary goal saw Real Kashmir come away with all the three points when they faced Minerva Punjab at the Tau Devi Lal stadium in Panchkula on Wednesday.

It was a tight match and Minerva Punjab were punished by the second-division champions for their profligacy in front of goal.

Minerva made two changes to their starting line-up that drew 0-0 against Churchill Brothers. Nongdamba Naorem and Manandeep Singh missed out a spot on the starting XI as they replaced by Makan Chothe and Kouame Alexandre. Paul Munster chose to stick to a four-man defence with Amandeep Singh and Philip Njoku acting as defensive screens. Akash Sangwan and Makan Chothe manned the wings with William Opoku having the license to roam freely. Alexandre was the lone striker up front.

Whereas Real Kashmir coach David Robertson fielded his side in a 3-5-2 formation with Dharmaraj Ravanan, Mason Robertson and Loveday Okechukwu as the three defenders. Brian Mascarenhas, Bazie Armand and Danish Farooq slotted in at the centre of the park with Aaron Katebe and Krizo starting upfront.

It was a slow start from both the sides as the two teams lacked discipline in midfield.

Minerva adopted a strategical change from their last outing as they were looking to create opportunities down the middle instead of hoisting aimless long balls. But lack of quality in the final third was evident as the Warriors were unable to test shot stopper Bilal Khan in the opening 20 minutes.

Against the run of play, Kashmir managed to get one shot on target after Krizo laid-off a wonderful ball for Katebe who tested Bhaskar Roy with a venomous shot on target.

Minerva slowly started to find their foot-hold on the game during the closing stages of the first match as Alexandre and Sangwan were combining well in the attacking third.

Chothe was played through on goal and he did well to skip past his marker before testing Bilal but the former Gokulam Kerala keeper did well to make a clean save.

Minerva started brightly after the break as Sangwan's cross from the left flank was brilliantly directed towards goal by ALexandre but the crossbar came to the rescue of Robertson's side on that occassion. Minutes later it was Opoku who managed to weave some space for himself to pull the trigger but Bilal was equal to the task to deny the Ghanian.

Minerva were creating chances in plenty but were not being to able to convert them. Alexandre strayed offside on most occassions which broke down their build-up. The Ivorian was neither clinical in front of goal which heaped more misery on Minerva.