AMARJIT LEADS ARROWS TO WIN OVER KERALA

CUTTACK: Captain Amarjit Singh Kiyam’s second half spot kick helped Indian Arrows stun eighth-placed Gokulam Kerala FC 1-0 and register only their second win in the ongoing Hero I-league here on Friday.

With this win, Indian Arrows have jumped up a place to be in the ninth position while Gokulam Kerala FC are placed eighth on the points table.

Gokulam Kerala FC, as expected, started on an attacking note but the Indian Arrows stood strong to hold their fort.

On the contrary, the hosts made their way past into the Kerala box quite a few times, but they were undone by lack of creativity inside the box.

Rahul KP, Boris Singh and Rahim Ali all played interesting football but could not maintain the tempo of their runs once inside the Kerala box, losing the ball more often.

Both the teams fought hard but failed to break the deadlock in the first 45 minutes.

The second half began with Gokulam Kerala FC showing intent to take the much-needed lead but Indian arrows defence stood tall to deny the visitors any chance.

Gokulam Kerala FC, however, continued with their attacks and did get some real close chances, but could not convert any of those.

A free kick by Gokulam’s Brazilian mid-fielder Felipe Castro in the 63rd minute that could have easily gone into the Arrows net was missed by Daniel Addo’s misplaced header. This was the closest that the visitors came to score in the game.

Soon after Feliipe Castro committed a silly foul on Vikram Pratap Singh inside the Gokulam box, handing Indian Arrows a penalty and skipper Amarjit made no mistake in taking the shot to give his side the lead in the 66th minute.

Thereafter Gokulam Kerala increased their attacks but the young Arrows side came up with a strong and committed display to deny their opponents.

On Saturday, I-league leaders Chennai City FC will take on Real Kashmir FC . For Chennai, it’s an opportunity to get back to winning ways at home.