Dronacharya trophy: Anil Kumar Hat-trick sinks Chandni FC in opener
3rd Navy Day Invitation Football Championship for Dronacharya trophy kicked off at Parade grounds in Kochi today. KSEB defeated Chandni FC 4 – 2 in the opening match played under floodlights.
KSEB started strongly in the opening half and the newly recruited striker Kannan found the net in 12th minute. Ace striker PK Anil Kumar doubled the tally soon to take the score to 2 – 0 at Half time.
Second half saw a different tempo to the match with Chandni FC coming back strongly. Kerala striker KP Zubair found the net twice in quick succession (53′, 62′ ) and the team from Kozhikode was back into the game.
At 2-2 the game was much open but Anil Kumar came up with a 75th minute strike to give back the lead and later finished off the game with another goal in 83rd to completing the hat-trick.
Talking to FootballKerala.com Chandni FC Striker Joseph Pereira said: “We started our camp very recently and are doing well. Our players on loan are yet to join the squad so we will surely be able to produce better performances. We played well. At 2-2 we had good chance”.
Anil Kumar was ecstatic after the match hat-trick he said “Very happy to score the hat-trick. We are a very good side and very unfortunate to miss a berth in Federation Cup this season. ”
Seems KSEB is into the tournament with a real purpose and a point to prove. They will play the winners of Central Excise v/s Gymkhana while Golden Threads will take on Universal Soccer School tomorrow at 6:30pm at Parade Grounds
Chandni FC who are knocked out of the tournament will play their next match against Titanium on 29th for the Federation Cup qualifiers.
