13th MSL: AIM beat KLASA 2-1 to open account as SSU, YUFC share spoils

By Our Sports Reporter
IMPHAL, Feb 23 : After three straight losses, AIM, Khabam fought back from a goal down in the first half to beat KLASA, Keinou 2-1 and open up their account on Sunday at the 13th Manipur State League which is currently underway at Artificial Turf ground, Khuman Lampak under the supervision of All Manipur Football Association.
KLASA who are also yet to open up their account this season, had the early say with H Romesh breaking through in the 11th minute. The Khabam side, stung by the goals too rallied back but KLASA held on to enter into the break with a slender 1-0 lead.
AIM however entered the field with more purpose after the restart and pulled level via David Ngaihte in the 62nd minute. Spirited AIM looked for more and their efforts paid dividend in the 77th minute when Md Akber went deep into KLASA territory and slammed home to break the parity.
With no much time left, KLASA toiled hard to equalise and claw back into the game but AIM defence proved too thick to get past and eventually AIM cruised home 2-1 for the first win in 4 matches.
Meanwhile in the 31st match of the tournament, YUFC, Ukhrul salvaged a 1-1 draw against SSU, Singjamei with the help of Yami Longvah second half strike.
The teams, very much level in terms of points and winning forms, were evenly poised throughout the match although SSU took a freak 1st minute lead with A Dingku finding the target.
YUFC which had equal amount of chances could not close the gap in the opening half but their hard work paid dividend in the 54th minute as Yami Longvah got a fine chance converted.
The remainder of the game was an end to end affair with both teams searching for the lead but their efforts proved futile and eventually the two sides had to content with a point each.
Monday Matches
AFC vs YPHU from 11.45 am
NACO vs SU from 2 pm