USFC makes perfect I-League debut

BHAICHUNG’S TEAM FIGHTS BACK FROM A GOAL DOWN, TWICE, TO WIN 3-2
GANGTOK, 07 Oct: United Sikkim Football Club [USFC] made a sensational senior division I-League debut at Paljor Stadium on Saturday going up against 2010-11 league champs, Salgaocar SC, and ending with its first three points in I-League vanquishing the Goan team 3-2. USFC qualified for the senior division I-League earlier this year and Salgaocar is an established veteran, having also won the first installment of the tournament in 1998-99 [I-League went by the name National Football League from 1998 to 2006 when it became I-League].
Although the home club came without Bhaichung Bhutia in its debut match in the I-League, full support from the home crowd made up for it. The home team was led by Anwar Ali as the captain.
The match, which was also the I-League opener, began with both teams playing cautious football, an approach, which despite attacks and counter-attacks, saw the first half end goalless.
Both teams returned from the drinks break with scoring on the mind and the floodgates opened soon enough with Salgaocar breaking through the USFC defence five minutes into the second half and, in the 50th minute, Angel G Aldecuer scored.
USFC presented an immediate counter and within two minutes, Nurudeen Salau, scored the equalizer for the home club. Salgaocar took the lead again, in the 56th minute, with a goal from the boots of Milagres Gonsalves and USFC clawed back again with Linekar Machado of USFC scoring the equalizer in the 64th minute.
With both teams fighting to take the lead, a goal by Sandesh Jhingan of USFC in the 75th minute sealed victory for the local club.
Linekar Machado of the USFC was declared the Man of the Match.
Addressing a press conference after the match, the USFC coach, Philippe De Rider summed up the team’s performance as “fantastic”. Each player of the team played a fantastic game to win against a strong team, he said.
Mentioning that this win was very important in order to boost the morale of the team for the upcoming matches, Mr Rider said that the team still needs to work on different aspects to take on other big teams in the league. He also credited the win to support from the home crowd.
On the other hand despite the loss, Salgaocar SC coach, Karim Bencherifa, expressed satisfaction over his team’s performance stating that Salgaocar played a good brand of football attacking throughout the match.
Meanwhile, the I-League match between United Sikkim FC and East Bengal scheduled for October 12 (Friday) at Paljor Stadium has been shifted one day ahead. The match will now take place on 11 October (Thursday). Kick off Time is 2:30 pm at Paljor Stadium.