SHILLONG: Two matches were played on Saturday in the U-14 Football Tournament 2013.
The first match was played between Royal Wahingdoh FC and Ryntih SC where the former emerged as the winners by the narrow margin of four goals to three.
It was the RWFC who took the lead in the seventh minute through Melvin Marbaniang by dodging past the advance of Ryntih’s goalkeeper and placing the ball in the corner of the net.
Ryntih thereafter regrouped and did not allow the lead to last long, scoring the equaliser in the 11th minute when Batskhem Dkhar took advantage of the off-positioned goalie of Royal and restored parity for his team.
The match started to become more contested and Wahingdoh scored the second goal in the 20th minute through Remos Suting.
Fighting again to restore parity, Ryntih managed to equalise just four minutes later through Batskhem Dkhar ending the first session at two-all.
With the start of the second half, Wahingdoh pumped in two consecutive goals in the 47th and 49th minutes through Melvin and Banrikupar. With the match nearing to an end, Ryntih earned a penalty in the dying minutes of the match and Archibald Kharbuli made no mistake to make the scoreline 4-3 for the Royals.
The second match of the day saw Smit take on Nongrah in another well-contested match where players of equal height displayed their football skills in search of a win.
With no team letting the other to take control, the match was mostly confined in the middle of the pitch and it was only once during the first session that Nongrah came close to scoring, but the chance went a begging.
Starting the second session, Nongrah showed a little supremacy over Smit but their chances of scoring eluded them until the 56th minute when Andreas Syiemiong once again gave his team three full points by placing the ball in the corner of the net from a corner kick, giving no chance for the Smit goalkeeper. The match thus ended 1-0 with three points to Nongrah.
Final selection for U-12 players
Meanwhile, the SSA has made it known that all U-12 players who have been shortlisted to attend the final selection must report at Polo Grounds at 4:00pm on February 5 along with their playing kit.