HFC beat Jamshedpur FC 1-0
Goa: Shameel Chembakath’s youthful Hyderabad FC side registered their third consecutive victory as they ended their campaign in the Reliance Foundation Development League with a solid performance here in Nagoa on Thursday.
Winger Abdul Rabeeh scored in the 91st minute, his first of this campaign, as HFC nudged Jamshedpur 1-0 and grabbed all three points from the final game of the competition. This win helped Hyderabad cement 3rd place in the league with 13 points on board, just three points outside the top-2.
Coach Shameel named an unchanged side for the third game running and the HFC youngsters were on top right from the beginning. Lalchungnunga Chhangte, Abdul Rabeeh and Abijith PA, all had half chances all throughout the first half.
But the biggest miss was from Koustav Dutta, who failed to convert from the penalty spot. Rabeeh was brought down inside the box, but Koustav’s effort was saved by Arman Tamang in the JFC goal, who also did well to deny Chhangte on the follow up.
Jamshedpur had their chances, hit the post and drew a goal line clearance from Deep Samantha in the first half, but it was Hyderabad who constantly posed questions of their defense and finally found the breakthrough in stoppage time.
Mark Zothanpuia’s free-kick from 30-yards out was mishandled by Arman, and the ball fell to Rabeeh who obliged with a tap-in and a late winner.
There were plenty of other impressive performance from the Men in Yellow and Black, not just in this game but all throughout the campaign.
Koustav, Chhangte, Bishnu Bordoloi and Abijith were the top goal scorers in the competition for HFC, with two goals apiece as they registered four wins and a draw in seven games just missing out on a place in the top-2.