CFL 2021/22: Tarak Hembrom hand United Sports first win of the campaign
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KOLKATA: Tarak Hembrom struck a late winner as United Sports Club scraped to a 1-0 victory over Southern Samity in their Calcutta Premier Division ‘A’ encounter on Saturday afternoon at East Bengal Ground.
The match seemed to be heading for a drab draw, but Tarak, coming off the bench, find the net to hand United Sports their first win of the campaign.
It was a game that didn’t have many open scoring chances, but the Purple Brigade will take the result anyway.
Despite some quick and accurate passes from both sets of players, neither side was able to establish dominance over the midfield during the early stages which made for an end-to-end, open encounter.
United Sports were pressing high without the ball, trying to put pressure on the Southern Samity defence which looked organised and comfortable to dictate the pace of the match and limit the United Sports’ options to counterattacks.
Southern Samity were impressive and well organized in the back restricting United Sports speculative long range efforts, while looking dangerous on the counter courtesy of the lively Uttam Rai.
Goalkeeper Sheikh Sadekuddin showed impressive aerial presence and the entire Southern Samity defence looked comfortable in absorbing United Sports’ attacking pressure, while looking to catch their opponents off-guard on the counter.
While Southern Samity laboured in search of their feet, United Sports established a comfortable rhythm whenever they found themselves in possession making it tough for their opponents to impose their game.
It was a positive and spirited performance of United Sports in the first-half, which fully deserved at least one goal. Half-time, however, arrived with the score remaining goalless.
Following a scoreless first-half, United Sports continued to be the better side, controlling the pace of the match with accurate passing at the back and probing attacks at the other end.
Albeit displaying plenty of technical ability with eye-catching combination plays the United Sports strikers were guilty of straying offside on several occasions.
To their credit Southern Samity didn’t panic and looked to have weathered storm to run the clock down until a dramatic late twist broke their hearts.
Two minutes remining in regulation time, a brilliant through ball from Dilip Oraon released Tarak, who shrugged off his marker and slotted the ball past Sadekuddin to snatch an unlikely win to the delight of their Belgian coach Steve Hebots.
