Shaheed Manoranjan Memorial Football: NISA win five goal thriller against DM RAO to secure last 4 berth

By Our Sports Reporter
IMPHAL, Mar 3 :  NISA, Thangmeiband held off DM RAO 3-2 in the third quarter final match of the 10th Shaheed Manoranjan Singh Memorial CRPF Football Tournament 2019-20 today at SAI Turf, Takyel.
H Gungoon scored twice for DM RAO but his effort went in vain as NISA made an unexpected comeback to make it 2-1 till the break before L Sanatomba further extended their lead in the second half.
DM RAO got off to a rousing start with H Gungoon finding the back of the net two minutes into the game. NISA however fought back bravely with a series of well co-ordinated moves among the midfielders and the forwards to stretch the defence line of the Sekmai side. DM RAO managed to soak up the pressure till Johnychand handed NISA the equaliser in the 30th minute and they slumped further with L Gouro scoring in the 41st minute to hand NISA a 2-1 first half lead.
The second half saw DM RAO trying to get back into the game but their hope shrunk further with L Sanatomba netting NISA's third goal in the 63rd minute. Seven minutes latter H Gungoon had his second to make it 2-3 and provide DM RAO some fresh hope but the team's effort to draw level in the latter part of the match did not really materialise as NISA produced a resilient defending performance to make sure their lead remain intact till the final whistle.
UPSA, Pukhao will face off with WYFC, Wangjing in the last quarter final match tomorrow.
Need for timely conduct
The match, although scheduled to begin from 12.15 pm as per the fixture released by the organising committee, was delayed by 45 minutes causing great inconvenience to the spectators and media persons and photo-journalists who are covering the event. It is high time for the organisers to look into the matter and conduct matches on time.