Osian’s ND Heroes, Air Force XI move ahead

Oct 25: Newly shaped Osian’s New Delhi Heroes and Air Force XI moved ahead in the final round of the 120th Osian’s Durand Cup qualifiers beating their respective opponents Indian National and Simla Youngs in a keenly contested tussle with similar fashion in the matches played at the Ambedkar stadium here on Wednesday.

ND Heroes defeated Indian National FC 5-4 via tie-breaker after the two teams ended goalless at the end of regulation time while in the second match, Air Force XI likewise defeated Simla Youngs 4-1 in the penalty shoot out, after the two teams were tied 1-1 at the end of the regulation time.

For ND Heroes, Chrispin Chettri, Shariyat Reza, Wazid, Amzad Hussain and Harrison Nwaeke found the net in the shootout on the other hand Indian National’s seasoned Pushpender Kundu wasted his chance at the crucial juncture after Manoj Joshi, Ajit Singh, Anthony and Manish converted their spot kicks to keep abreast with the opposition.

The match between Osian’s New Delhi Heroes and Indian National FC was evenly poised in the entire duration of the match. Players from both the teams tried their hard to open up the scoring opportunities but could not be able to score when it mattered.

In the other match of the day, Air Force XI rallied to beat local club Simla Youngs 4-1 via tie-breaker, after their match ended 1-1 in the regulation time, keeping their hopes alive to qualify for main round.

Simla Youngs went ahead in the 28th minute through the strike of Adizua Philip. The Simla Youngs were leading with a goal at the stroke of lemon-break but could not be able to sustain their lead, as the spirited airmen pressed hard after the break and found the equaliser in the 52nd minute by their seasoned campaigner Kalyan Pal.

The match went into penalty shoot out and Airmen experienced custodian A Bandhopadhya came up with a fine performance at the right moment and excelled under the bars with his fine saves letting in only one goal scored by the opposition during the shoot-out.

All four Air Force XI shooters Kalyan Pal, Lalramzuava, GS Sandhu and WP Singh found their target while only Monu Chowdhary netted for Simla Youngs.

New Delhi Heroes will now take on City Football Club in the final qualifying match on Sunday, while Air Force will fight it out with Amity United on Saturday to make the grade in the main round of the tournament.