South United FC beat CIL FC 1-0 to book Puttaiah Memorial Cup Semi Finals berth

A thrilling contest saw SUFC win out by a narrow margin of 1-0 against CIL FC, though the gap could’ve been much larger between the two sides. CIL FC barely threatened during the game other than a few sporadic opportunities.

The game began with CIL FC seeing little of the ball but frustrating South United FC as they took a few minutes to find their feet in the game and get their rhythm going. The orange-clad men had a few early scares as CIL threatened to breach their defense, but it was all soon forgotten as they began to get a foothold in the game.

South United FC dominated the first half, for the most part, coming close a few times but missing the final touch or being thwarted by a few excellent saves by the CIL FC goalkeeper. It seemed for a while that despite creating many chances, the group leaders may come away with just a point.

It changed quickly in the second half as in little more than a minute, the South United captain Magesh picked up the ball deep in his own half and went on a marauding run before pausing and finding Lokesh in the box with a sublime ball over the top. The midfielder slotted it past the keeper who got a flailing arm to the ball, but it would still find the net to register the only goal of the game.

South United's Satish makes a forward run

Several chances created in the second half would also see South United go close on more than 3 occasions. What could have been a 3-0 or 4-0 scoreline, however, remained 1-0 giving CIL FC some hope.

The boys in red and white gave it a push in the second half as well but found themselves lacking against a determined South United defense.