I-League: Pailan go down to Prayag

Kolkata, April 6 (IANS) Despite dominating for most part of the match and hitting the crossbar twice, Pailan Arrows went down to Prayag United 1-2 in a crucial I-League match at the Salt Lake Stadium Thursday.

The win took Prayag to 38 points from 23 matches while Pailan Arrows stay on 8 points from 20 matches.

The match started off with Yusif Yakubu scoring in the fifth minute when he played a one two with fellow striker Joshimar DaSilva and it resulted in him scoring the goal, leaving Pailan Arrows keeper Naveen Kumar with no chance.

However, Pailan had a chance to equalise when C.S. Sabeeth missed an open header from a perfect Tirthankar Sarkar cross down the left. Sarkar, who with his incisive floaters had the Prayag defence stretching and guessing all throughout, also tested Prayag goalkeeper Abhijit Mondal off a corner.

Mondal also palmed a couple of powerful shots from Pailan medio Prabir Das in the first half and stayed lucky when another of Prabir's shots hit the post with him beaten.

Changing over, Pailan equalised in the 62nd minute. A perfect cross from Prabir Das from the right was headed in by Sabeeth.

But the joy did not last long. Shylo Malsawmtulunga scored just three minutes later with a clever tap in, which foxed the Pailan goalkeeper.

Pailan counter-attacked. In the 77th minute, substitute Bikramjit Singh hit the post after beating Mondal. They attacked relentlessly but the Prayag defence managed to hang on.