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After winning their last I-League encounter against Pune FC, the Kolkata giants are slowly but steadily clawing their way back to the top five of the I-League standings. After thumping the champs, Dempo, in their previous I-League match, they once again stunned the Pune football fans by defeating Pune FC by a two goal margin on Wednesday.
From the blow of the referee’s whistle, Prayag United started with a few hiccups while Pune FC lost loads of opportunities to score. Pune FC failed to score from numerous occasions and were unsuccessful in converting their chances to goal. They missed out on three easy chances.
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Prayag United played the waiting game and their prime strategy was to counter attack their opponents. Whenever Pune FC attacked, Prayag was ready to pounce on them by converting defence into attack within a flick of a second. Both the goals were scored in the second half of the match.
In the 68th minute of the match, Lalkamal Bhowmick volleyed a ball past Abhra Mondal to give Prayag United a 1-0 lead. Prayag’s Nigerian striker, Ranty Martins put the final icing on the cake by scoring the second goal for Prayag six minutes before injury time. Ranty latched onto a lobbed pass by Deepak Mondal and fooled Pune FC keeper to score the insurance goal for the yellow and purple brigade.
The outcome might have been different if Pune FC midfielder Douhou Pierre had scored in the 21st minute. Pierra missed a sitter which eventually proved to be the turning point of the match. The most notable point of this match was that Prayag’s starlet Carlos Hernandez was totally out of touch in this match. Prayag was able to pull off the victory without a notable contribution from the Costa Rican.
After this win, Prayag have brightened their prospects of remaining in the hunt for the I-League. After round 15, Prayag United are the ones who have netted the most number of goals, scoring 32 goals, out of which their Nigerian striker, Ranty Martins has scored 16. He is currently the top scorer of this season’s I-League.
