13th Manipur State League: AIM trounce AFC 7-2 as NISA thump SU 3-1 to return on top

By Our Sports Reporter
IMPHAL, Mar 4 : NISA, Thangmeiband romped to a 3-1 win against Sagolband United (SU) for their fifth win in 6 matches and went on top in team standings of the ongoing 13th Manipur State League while AIM, Khabam thrashed AFC, Thoubal 7-2 to move to 11th spot on 6 points from 7 matches.
In the 49th match of the tournament, NISA which downed GSC 2-1 in the previous fixture, made a fine comeback after trailing 0-1 in the first half to clinch their fifth win and remain unbeaten at the tournament so far.
The first half saw SU get off to a swift start and    were 1-0 ahead after 26 minutes as H Premananda S beat NISA keeper. NISA fought back well to draw level but lack of accuracy held them back from going on level term till the break.
NISA however reaped the reward of their consistent efforts in the 54th minute when Okorogor Nabuike found the back of SU net.
It was an end to end affair after the equaliser with both teams searching for the lead and the game looked to end in a 1-1 draw but Lamjingba Mutum helped NISA overturn the lead in the 90th minute before N Momocha Singh capped a fine chance three minutes into stoppage time (90+3) to earn NISA a 3-1 win.
Meanwhile in the fight for teams in the relegation zone, AIM rode on Peter Haokip treble (40', 49', 69') to snatch a 7-2 victory against AFC, Thoubal.
Johny Kom and Bikash Yumnam scored respectively in the 30th and 36th minute to give AIM a positive start before Peter Haokip opened his account to make it 3-0 till the break.
Peter grabbed his second with a fine shot in the 49th minute before Rohit pulled back a goal for AFC while David  KC and N Shantanu managed a goal each respectively in the 75th and the 77th minutes after Peter Haokip completed his treble in the 69th minute to make it 7-1.
Y Sobha too found his name on the scoresheet after 80th minutes to make it 2-7 but it proved to be the last goal of the game.
NACO, Nambul Mapal will play NEROCA FC, Sangakpham in the 51st match of the tournament tomorrow at 11.45 pm before GSC take on UKB in an all Churachandpur clash latter at 2 pm.