The Indian Arrows defeated Calcutta Customs Club 1-0 at the East Bengal Stadium on Wednesday in a Group A encounter in the 124th edition of the IFA Shield.
Sibajit Singh scored the only goal of the game to hand the win to the Arrows. Head Coach, Venkatesh Shanmugam made only one change from his last game in the starting XI, bringing Shreyas Ketkar in place of Satendra Yadav.
The game started in favour of Arrows as they completely dominated possession from the beginning over the Customs attack.
In the early minutes of the game, defender Sajad took a crucial clearance over the opponents' attack. In the 12th minute, Taison went in for a brilliant chance but unfortunately fired just over the bar.
Leewan fought his way past a defender to send in a cross in the 24th minute, as Taison reached out, but his effort went wide.
Another cross came in from Leewan in the 33rd minute where Sajad took the solid header but it went off target.
After the half-hour mark, Vibin took a shot at the 50th minute outside the box, but it again went wide. Arrows boss Venkatesh soon brought in the changes as Sailo and Satendra came on for Vibin and Harsh respectively.
In the 62nd minute, Taison dribbled past a defender and cut it back to Sibajit, who finished with a first time shot from the edge of the box and scored for Arrows to give them the lead.
In the 75th minute, Leewan again made a mazy run and cut inside, but was clawed down as he was about to shoot. Minutes later, Sailo sent his free-kick towards Gogoi, but it went inches wide.
In the last ten minutes of the game, the Arrows made a couple of more inroads as Shreyas took a fine shot but fizzled wide.
Indian Arrows Starting XI: Ahan Prakash (GK), Leewan Castanha, Halen Nongtdu, Amandeep, Sajad H, Sibajit Leimanpokpam, Vibin Mohanan (Sailo 67'), Parthib Gogoi, Harsh Patre (Harsh 67'), Taison Singh, Shreyas Ketkar.
( With inputs from ANI )
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