Jamshedpur FC beat Indian Army 1-0 for second consecutive victory in Durand Cup

Jamshedpur, Jul 29 (PTI) Sanan Mohammed's second-half strike secured a 1–0 win for Jamshedpur FC over Indian Army, marking their second consecutive victory in Group C of the 134th Durand Cup football tournament on Tuesday.

With this win at the JRD Tata Sports Complex, Jamshedpur FC moved to the top of the group with six points from two matches and are now closer to a place in the knockout stages.

Indian Army dominated the first half of the game, maintaining possession and creating the better chances. The Armymen could have taken a two goal lead inside the first 15 minutes but Samir Murmu's effort from a tight angle whisked past the far post.

Minutes later, Samananda Singh glanced a header wide from a corner kick.

Jamshedpur FC were finding it difficult to match up with the physicality of the Army side as they dominated the midfield with Lethaolen Khongsai and P Christopher Kamei dictating the pace of the attacks.

The Red Miners were using long ball and long throw-ins to break down the Indian Army defence, but without much success. Amrit Gope also made a fingertip save to deny Army captain Sunil’s effort in added time of the first half to keep the scores level at the lemon break.

The home side took the lead in the 52nd minute, finishing a move which started from another long throw. Karthik Choudhary headed the ball back into the danger area and Sanan Mohammed chested the ball down and finished expertly past the diving Sayad Bin Abdul Kadir in goal.

Jamshedpur had better control in the game after taking the lead even though Indian Army had the major share of possession and attempts on goal but there were very few shots on target that troubled the goalkeeper.

The closest they came to score was when Liton Shil hit the crossbar with a thumping long ranger in the closing stages of the second half.

There was more drama towards the end of the match as Indian Army goalkeeper Sayad Bin Abdul Kadir was given the marching orders for a challenge on Jayesh Rane outside the penalty box, after the midfielder beat the off-side trap and ran through free towards goal.

Defender Samananda Singh took the goalkeeping duties for the last minutes of injury time as Indian Army were pushing for an equaliser. Suhair also hit the crossbar in the last moments of the game as Jamshedpur FC negotiated the last barrage of attacks to earn the hard fought three points. PTI PDS PDS APA APA