Late strike from Anil Kumar savours a point for Chirag Kerala

Chirag United Kerala broke their duck on home turf as they came back from a goal down to earn a point against defending champions Salgaocar SC. Anil Kumar cancelled out Marcus Mascarenhas' first half strike as the home side earned a valuable point in what was the most entertaining of all the home matches in Trivandrum so far this season.

Chirag United started the match with the new pairing of Anil and the debutant David Sunday playing upfront. Chirag took the attack to the opposition as the duo kept the Salgaocar custodian Vinay Singh busy in the early exchanges. Captain Ajayan brought the crowd alive with a long range effort which was calmly collected by the Salgaocar keeper .Sunday and Anil showed good understanding with their movements as they continuously gave problems to the Salgaocar back four.

Salgaocar slowly came into the match and it took more than 20 minutes for them to get their first shot on target. They grew in confidence and started putting more pressure on the Chirag defence as the half progressed. Chidi Edeh proved to be a nemesis for the Chirag defence as the Nigerian gave them a tough time. Inevitably it was the flying forward who played a key role in Salgaocar taking the lead on the half hour mark through Marcus Mascarenhas. Chidi Edeh drifted in from the right wing and left two chirag defenders for dead before going to the byline and cutting the ball back for Marcus Mascarenhas for an easy tap in.

The goal seemed to have woken up the home team as they went in search for an equaliser. Their endeavour almost paid off as Chirag got a golden opportunity to level the score four minutes later. After some good work from Noushad on the right wing, he crossed the ball in to the box for Anil to head the ball to Sunday who swiblled and got his shot away in one movement only for Vinay Singh to come up with an outstanding save. It was constant pressure from the home side as the Salgaocar defence held on to take a solitary goal advantage to half time

Chirag took the foot off the peddle at the beginning of the second half and it allowed Salgaocar to come back into the match. Coach Packeer Ali ran the changes in the second half by bringing in Faisal T for Noushad K and Usman Ashik for Shahabaz Saleel and it was Ashik who gave the impetus back to yellow brigade. The youngster showed some silky touches and amazing close control as he cut across the Salgaocar defence. Chirag should have equalized on 73rd minute after Ajayan found a through ball to Sunday who kept his composure and put a lovely cross to the far post only for Anil to miss with the goal at his mercy. Six minutes later it was Vineeth's turn to miss, after some lovely feet by Ashik on the left wing who put in a precise cross only for Vineeth to blast the ball over the goal with a first time effort.

The home team were rewarded for their attacking endeavour two minutes before regulation time as Chirag took advantage of a tired Salgaocar defence. It was Ashik again who provided the assist with a surging run from the left wing and put a good low cross into the danger area and Anil who showed good composure and mental strength to recover from the early glaring miss to finish in a typical strikers fashion from 6 yards out. You could feel the relief around the stadium and of the players as Chirag got a deserving equalizer. The Kerala side finished the stronger as they went in search of an unlikely winner. Usman Ashik finished his 20 minute cameo with another cross to Sunday whose shot skimmed past the post denying Chirag a famous victory over the champions.

Coach Packeer Ali would be happy with his team's performance especially going forward and in David Sunday they have an ideal man who could lead the forward line up. With Charles set to return for the next match after his suspension which would beef up the defence, there is a real sense of optimism that Chirag can turn their fortunes around. And with a cameo man of the match performance Usman Ashik has send a strong message to his coach for a starting place in the next match.

Rohan Shah writes for FootballKerala.com

From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Sunday 4 December 2011, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.