New Delhi: Second string Pune FC team was held to a dull 1-1 draw by the ONGC in a quarter final matchup of 124th Durand Cup at the Ambedkar Stadium, here today. Pune FC who missed the services of their star players like Jeje, Arata Izumi, Othallo, and Subrata Paul owing to the one off exhibition tie against the EPL side Blackburn Rovers to be played on October 7th was not put up a performance worth their reputation. They missed easy chances, could not create chances, and let the opposition dominate to certain extent.
First real chance of the game came in the 10th minute when Kailash Patil of ONGC had a clear shot at the goal but his shot was fisted out Pune FC’s custodian Amrinder Singh. Pune FC got their first chance at the cherry in the 25th minute when Jeh Williamson served by a lovely pass from the right entered the ONGC box, but lost control over the ball to be cleared by defender. Few minutes later Jeh Williamson got one more chance to score but he blew it this time as well when shot landed wide of the post.
Both the teams made efforts to get an inroad but it proved futile, and both the teams went into the break without troubling the scorer.
At the change of ends, Pune FC stepped up their game and created few scoring opportunities. They were rewarded at last in the 58th minute of the game drew the first blood when a nice diagonal through pass from left back Kamaljeet Singh was well accepted by Karma Tsewang who came charging into shoot the ball of the half volley to find the nets.
With the match heading towards the injury time and an anticipated draw was on the cars, ONGC found the equalizer in the 88 minute through a deflection, when C Kenisten clear shot at the goal flicked the legs of his Kailash Patil to sail past Amrinder, much to his amusement.
Even though Pune FC did not play to their reputation, did not that fans that much considering the fact that they fielded five under 19 players in a bid to get their senior players ready for tomorrow’s friendly against Blackburn Rovers. “I was happy the way they played. It was our sheer bad luck to have lost the match, but end of the day I was happy the way they played. It was a satisfying result for me,” said Pune FC coach Norbert Gonsalvez.
Other results:
Mohammedan Sporting bt Army 1-0( Sandeep Maity- 3 mins)
