I-League 2017-18: Abhijit Sarkar's strike helps Indian Arrows beat Gokulam Kerala FC

Kozhikode: Indian Arrows continued their exciting journey in the I-League 2017-18 as they beat Gokulam Kerala FC 1-0 on Friday. [caption id=“attachment_4300411” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Indian Arrows player in action against Gokulam FC. Image Courtesy: Twitter @ILeagueOfficial[/caption] Abhijit Sarkar (77 minute), who scored his first goal in the Hero I-League on his birthday against NEROCA FC, calmly slotted the only goal of the match to conquer the team from the southernmost state of India. Arrows coach Luis Norton de Matos went back to his trusted players Boris Singh, Anwar Ali in the defence along with Sanjeev Stalin. Local boy Rahul KP was also handed a start by the gaffer. Arrows took only two minutes to settle down as Aniket Yadav bombed one from inside the box which just flew over the crossbar. Both teams were steaming in their pursuit of some much-needed points but the defenders were carrying out a pristine job to cancel the attackers out. Arrows defenders, especially Boris did a tremendous job to tame Odafa Okolie and the Nigerian ace striker couldn’t find any breathing space to make a positive impact in the match. Salah and Kivi tried to outwit the resilient youngsters from the flanks but eventually, that trick couldn’t earn many dividends for Bino George’s boys. Seconds after the changeover, Rahim Ali came very close to scoring the opening goal of the match but Bilal Khan jumped at the right time to get hold of the cross flown by Rahul. On the hour-mark, finally, George replaced the off-colour Odafa and introduced Alajmi. The deadlock was finally broken by the young lad Sarkar in the 77th minute. Rahul had a whizzing run down the left flank who tried his luck only for Bilal to palm it away to Sarkar who put the Arrows in lead.