Federation Cup: Aizawl FC get past Salgaocar to set up final with Mohun Bagan

Margao: Aizawl FC booked a berth in the summit clash of the Federation Cup football tournament in their maiden appearance after they drew with Sporting Clube de Goa 2-2 in the second leg semifinals in Margao on Sunday. Aizawl qualified for the final on the basis of one away goal counting as two as they made it to the summit clash on 4-2 aggregate. They had played out a goal-less draw in their home leg match in Aizawl. Aizawl take on Mohun Bagan in the final on 21 May at Guwahati. The first half of the match at the Nehru Stadium here was fought on even terms with both sides unable to penetrate each other’s defence as play was confined to the midfield. [caption id=“attachment_2782350” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Aizawl FC’s Joel Sunday in action in semi-final first leg against Salgaocar. AIFF[/caption] Sporting Goa had the first real chance to surge ahead when a move on the right saw Sumeet Passi sending a cross inside the box for Nicholas Fernandes on the left whose left footer was tipped over by rival keeper Soram Poirei Anganba. The visitors, who were looking to beat rival defence on the counter moves, broke the deadlock in the 39th minute when Ricky Lallawmawma sent a long ball from the left that beat the rival defence and Ayeni Joel Sunday Yinka, who was unmarked inside the box, sent it past goalkeeper Arindam Bhattacharja to the right side of his net. The goal was a wake up call for the home team as they went all out and nearly found the equaliser two minutes latter but Victorino Fernandes, who was put through by Mohammed Al Amnan, directed the ball straight into the keeper Anganba. Sporting kept on pressure in dying minutes of the first half and Sumeet Passi found the equaliser from a header after Loveday’s goal-bound header came to him off a flag kick taken by Pratesh Shirodkar. The second half saw Sporting showing more urgency in their attack but sudden loss of cool by Pratesh Shirodkar cost them dear as he who brought down David Lalrinmuana inside the box and thus conceded a penalty. Lalchhawnkima made no mistake in beating keeper Arindam to his right in the 58th minute from the spot. Sporting made all out effort and coach Mateus Costa made a vital change, bringing in Glan Martins in place of Ganesh Thakur and the move paid off as Martin scored after the ball rebounded off rival keeper’s hands off a shot taken by defender Subhashish Bose to restore parity. The last 10 minutes turned out to be dramatic as both the teams tried to score the winner. Aizawl FC were reduced to ten men in the injury time when David Lalrinmuna needlessly got the second yellow card for arguing with the referee Pranjal Banerjee.