Srinagar:Taking advantage of the home conditions, Real Kashmir on Thursday scored their first victory of the ongoing I League season with a shock 2-1 defeat of defending champions Chennai City 2-1 as sporting action returned to the valley after four months.
Danish Farooq (22nd minute) and Ivory’s Bazie Armand (27th) struck for the winners while Syed Suhail Pasha was the lone scorer for the visitors in the 48th minute. Real Kashmir had drawn their away matches against Kolkata giants East Bengal and Tiddim Road Athletic Union (TRAU) of Imphal before taking on the holders in front of a packed TRC Ground. The match was the first sports event in the valley after the centre withdrew special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated it into two union territories. Farooq Khan, advisor to Lt Governor G C Murmu, attended the match. “The love of Kashmiris for football was seen at its peak as the entire stadium was packed,” he said as close to 6,000 fans turned to their team in action. Back in front of their home fans, the Snow Leopards kicked off the proceedings, staying firmly in the driving seat.
Their quick and fluidic, yet disciplined passing and movement was almost too much for Chennai to handle in the early stages. The first glaring opening of the match arrived in the seventh minute, when a beautiful cross from Kallum Higginbotham found Mason Robertson, who tried an audacious chip over Nauzet Garcia Santana, but the Chennai custodian exhibited quick reflexes to deny him. Real Kashmir kept the pressure on, not allowing the Southerners a moment’s respite. In the 13th minute, some smart footwork by Farooq, followed by an exquisite rabona flick with his weaker foot put Higginbotham through down the right. The Englishman bulldozed his way into the six-yard box and passed it across goal for Mason Robertson to tap it into an open net, but the ever-so-reliable Scot made a total hash of it, flicking it over instead which again fell to a lurking Bazie Armand and to everyone’s surprise, he missed the target too. The deadlock was finally broken in the 22nd minute, when an exquisite set-piece delivery from Higginbotham found Farooq in the box, putting Real Kashmir ahead. (PTI)
