Hyderabad, March 19 Inter Kashi required a late goal to secure a point and stay close on the heels of the top spot on the table with a 2-2 draw in the I-League 2024-25 against Sreenidi Deccan on Wednesday.
The visitors would have retaken the top spot on the table with full points but will make do with a gritty result against a Sreenidi side who looked close to their best on the day.
Having watched Churchill Brothers leapfrog them on the table courtesy of their win over Dempo Sports Club, Inter Kashi were under pressure to deliver. And from the start they left no doubts about their ability to do so. As early as the 8th minute, they had their first chance, when Sumeet Passi rose highest from a corner to direct a header towards goal. His effort drifted just wide.
In the 17th minute though, Passi turned provider for the opener, latching onto a loose ball on the right flank before delivering an inch-perfect low fizzing cross into the six-yard box. K Prasanth merely had to tap it into an empty net. Sreenidi Deccan were being overwhelmed and their defenders, in this case, had been caught napping.
The goal woke the hosts up and within three minutes, they had a chance to draw level when David Castaneda headed towards goal from a looping right sided cross. Kashi goalkeeper Arindam Bhattacharja was caught in no man’s land, having come off his line in an attempt to beat the cross away. Fortunately for him, the attempt was cleared off the line.
Sreenidi’s assaults kept coming, and the next big chance fell to Lalromawia who drove into the box from the right side before firing his effort high and wide of the far post.
The goal had been coming and the break did not disrupt Sreenidi’s momentum. Three minutes after the restart, Lalromawia, having played a brilliant one-two on the right flank, delivered a delicious curling cross into the six-yard area. Castaneda slammed his header into the net.
The equaliser enabled Sreenidi to up the ante, and in the 72nd minute, after a long period of pressure, they took the lead. A long throw-in from the left flank found its way through a mass of Kashi defenders right on the head of Brandon Vanlalremdika, who duly headed it in.
Kashi were in trouble and started moving forward in numbers, desperate to take something from the game. In a chaotic end to the game, Kashi got the equaliser when Bidhyasagar Singh scored a second in the first minute of injury time after a defensive error in the Sreenidi ranks. Both sides still had a chance to win it, Passi was guilty of a glaring miss right at the end when he sent his header high while presented with an empty net.
--IANS
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