It has been the epitome of success for Kerala in football this season! After
Gokulam Kerala
’s men successfully defended their I-League crown, their women displayed their invincibility in Indian football by doing the same with back-to-back
Indian Women’s League
titles — a first by an Indian club.
Coming in unbeaten and with superior goal difference in the virtual final at
Kalinga Stadium
in Bhubaneswar on Thursday, they broke the dreams of a second title for
Sethu FC
by beating them 3-1 in the crucial encounter.
The match began on an optimistic note for Crispin Chhetri-coached Sethu as
Ashalata Devi
’s failure to clear a cross from Anju Tamang in the third minute made it land near
Renu Rani
who headed it in to break the deadlock and sent the Sethu players on a celebratory frenzy.
But the Antony Andrews-coached side got back into the game soon enough utilising a foul on
Elshaddai
Acheampong by Michel Castanha. Ashalata made up for her earlier error and put the resulting spot-kick into the bottom corner of the net, away from the outstretched hands of Sethu custodian
Soumiya Narayanasamy
in the 14th minute.
The rest of the half belonged to the defending champions and they used all means to add to their scoresheet. Sethu could feel the pressure and in the 33rd minute, Pavithra M failed to clear a cutback from the indomitable
Manisha Kalyan
leaving an easy conversion from the prolific Elshaddai to tap it in for her 20th goal of the campaign.
The lead was doubled seven minutes later when Elshaddai turned provider in front of the goal for Manisha as the latter comfortably shot it in to make the score 3-1 in Gokulam’s favour.
In other matches on the day, Deepa Nayak scored four goals and Pyari Xaxa hit a hat-trick to earn Sports Odisha a 7-0 win over Mata Rukmani at 7th Battalion Ground to finish the season on fourth spot, a rung above Indian Arrows, who lost their last match 0-1 to third-placed Kickstart FC, at Capital Ground.
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