Indian Women's League: Eastern Sporting Union maintain winning run; Sethu FC beat Rising Student Club

Shillong: Eastern Sporting Union kept their 100 percent record intact with a 2-0 victory over Gokulam Kerala FC in the Hero Indian Women’s League at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Monday. [caption id=“attachment_4415327” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Sethu FC in action against Rising Student Club. Image Courtesy: AIFF[/caption] In the day’s other game, Sethu FC defeated Rising Student Club 2-0 to register their second win. Mandakini opened the scoring for Eastern Sporting Union in the first half with her strike in the 24th minute before Kamala Devi doubled the lead after the break in the 50th minute. The win took Eastern Sporting to 12 points from four matches. Eastern Sporting Union came into the match on the back of three victories while Gokulam Kerala FC thumped Indira Gandhi ASE 6-1 in their previous encounter. Both teams started off on a positive note, putting the ball into each other’s boxes. In the other match, Bangladeshi striker Sabina Khatun struck in the 47th minute before Manisha doubled the lead for Sethu FC with her strike in the 90th minute. Rising Student Club came off stronger of the two as they went on the attack straightaway. Anju Tamang saw her shot go just wide in the second minute before Sanju shot it straight toward Sowmiya in the fifth. The other frontline players Ngoubi and Pyari Xaxa also joined in as they had a crack at the goal in the opening 10 minutes. A brilliant save by Sowmiya off Anju kept the Southern side at parity in the 11th minute, in a spell which saw some frantic defending by Sethu. The game slowed down but Rising kept the pressure intact with Pyari coming close with her header in the 38th minute before Sanju’s shot was saved just before half-time. Goalkeeper Sowmiya being the solid wall between the goal and Rising players. The second-half started with a bang as Indumathi’s pass split the Rising defence. Sabina Khatun did the rest as she scored to give Sethu the lead in the 47th minute. The goal seemed to charge up Sethu as they made more frequent forays into the Rising box. Jabamani Tudu did the star turn as she pulled off a goal-line save. Meanwhile, at the other end, Sanju missed by a whisker as her ill-fortune in front of the goal continued. Anju then had a golden chance to equalise but Player of the Match Sowmiya pulled off another stunning save to deny her. With the clock ticking, Rising drove forward in numbers but a goal remained elusive. With the team playing a high line it left them vulnerable to counter attacks and Manisha utilised one such opportunity to score in the 90th minute. Sethu FC will face India Rush SC on the 4 April in their next encounter with Rising Student’s Club taking on Indira Gandhi ASE the same day. Gokulam won a couple of corners with ESU’s Kamala combining with Prameshwori to have a go at the goal. The breakthrough came in the 24th minute when Mandakini struck from outside the box. Her shot from 30 yards out finding the far post corner. Kamala had a chance to double the lead in the 29th but her shot was blocked as Gokulam found it difficult to get the ball forward. Fazila made a run into the box in the 31st but was unable to find the net. A serious injury to Naocha in the 42nd minute made her leave the field on a stretcher as the half ended 1-0 in Eastern’s favour. The second-half saw ESU doubling their lead as Kamala Devi struck in the 50th minute.