Kolkata: Minerva Punjab maintained their unbeaten run in the I-League, with a convincing 2-0 victory over the All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) developmental team, Indian Arrows. It was a close contest between the two North-Indian clubs, with the foreign players making the difference, in the end. William Opoku Asiedu score both the goals across the two halves , guiding Minerva to the pole position, with seven points from three matches.
Forced to make three changes to the side as a part of the loan agreement with Minerva Punjab, coach Luis Norton De Matos brought in Deepak Tangri and Abhijit Sarkar in-place of former Minerva players Anwar Ali and Jeakson Singh. Nongdamba Naorem also was excluded from the bench.
The game had barely got in flow when Minerva took the lead from one bullet of a shot from William in the seventh minute. A long Sukhdev Singh throw saw Boris Singh’s clear the ball only as far as Girik Khosla, who in turn laid it out for the Ghanaian Asiedu to unleash his shot, giving Minerva a 1-0 lead early in the game. Under pressure, Arrows nearly conceded another moments later. But goalkeeper Dheeraj punched the ball over the bar off a a Kasim header.
Things however began to materialise for the AIFF team, who with short passes created some chances, with Abhijit Sarkar earning the best chance, moments into second half. A quick build-up play by Arrows saw Edmund release an onrushing Sarkar only for him to shoot straight at goalie Rakshit Dagar. Rahul too missed another spectacular chance in the 70th minute after failing to latch into a Edmund cross.
Meanwhile, Minerva almost added a second when Tangri found Williams on the left whose chip hit the upright, bringing a relief to an out of line Dheeraj. The Ghanaian did add a second minutes later, through another bullet of a shot. His control of a Chencho cross was teasing to the eye, before he brushed off Jitendra to fire in a powerful shot sealing a comfortable 2-0 victory for the Lions.