omen Football: Gokulam (Kerala) top group 1 with all win record, SSB (Bengal) a step closer to semi final

Harpal Singh Bedi

New Delhi, 15 May: Gokulam Kerala outplayed Hans Club Delhi 3-1 to top Group 1 with all win record in the Hero Indian Women Football League in Ludhiana on Wednesday.

Earlier SSB Club (Bengal) thrashed Panjim Footballers 6-2 to keep their hopes alive for the semifinal berth.

For Gokulam, who have already secured a spot in the semifinals, the goal scorers were Anju Tamang, Ranjana Chanu and captain Dalima Chhibber while Anushka Samuel netted one for Hans Women.

Gokulam forward Anju Tamang put her side in the lead on the 10th minute. However, Hans drew parity in the 20th minute through Anushka Samuel.

However Kerala team, dominated the play for most of the first half, and eventually regained their lead, when Ranjana Chanu scored an absolute blinder of a goal.

Gokulam captain Dalima Chhibber extended their lead a little after the hour mark, when she the ball was crossed in from the left and she tapped it into the goal from inside the box.

Hans had the chance to halve the lead mid-way through the second half, when Anushka was played through on goal as she beat the Gokulam offside trap. She only had goalkeeper Linthoi to beat, but the latter made a fine save to keep Gokulam’s two-goal cushion.

With this result, Gokulam finish the group with five wins out of as many matches, having scored a total of 16 and conceded just one.

In an another match Ranjita Devi, Sumila Chanu and Sangita Basfore scored a brace each for SSB, while Karishma Shirvoikar netted two for Panjim.

It was Panjim which took the lead against the run of play when Karishma finished a swift move to put them in the lead.

However, once SSB settled into the game they equalized through international Sangita Basfore as they went on to dominate the game for the rest of the half.

In the second half, Sumila Chanu and Sangita Basfore struck in quick succession to give SSB 3-1 lead.

Sumila scored again, a few minutes later as she dribbled past two defenders inside the box and slotted it into the bottom corner. Ranjita Chanu added a fifth for SSB, when she nodded in a corner from close range.

With a little under 10 minutes to go, Ranjita scored again, this time from a melee inside the penalty area, before Karishma added a consolation goal for Panjim in the dying seconds of the game.

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