Panchkula: Minerva Punjab roared back into the title race with a vital 2-0 win over defending champions Aizawl FC at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium here on Monday. The victory helped them leap-frog Neroca to the top of the table.
They now have 32 points, one more than the league debutants who have played a game more. Aizawl meanwhile remained sixth with 21 points after 17 games.
It was a welcome victory for the ‘Warriors’ who seemed to have lost their shine after spending majority of the season at the peak. Consecutive defeats against East Bengal and Gokulam Kerala meant they came into the fixture against Aizawl in a must-win situation.
The first-half however went goalless and coach Khogen would have lashed out at his boys after they failed to go ahead twice in the opening 45 minutes. Young Chencho Gyeltshen, in one of his usual surging runs beat three defenders with sheer pace and brilliance but hilariously shot wide in the 11th minute.
Opoku had another 15 minutes later but headed wide after Kamalpreet found him from a long ball.
The shackles were finally broken in the 71st minute and it was young Akash Sangwan who headed home from a rebound after Aizawl custodian made hash of a regular save. One of the four U-22 players, who started for the hosts, Akash had a brilliant match and was often at the right place in the right time.
“I have played on this ground before and it helped,” he said later talking of the experience.
Former East Bengal midfielder Armand Bazie completed the win with a simple tap-in towards the game-end.
Minerva however have two games remaining and may well have to win both, if East Bengal don’t drop any points in their last two.
Coach Khogen Singh however already instructed his boys to “play like a winner.” “Play and walk like a winner, he added. The title is in our hands.”
Aizawl coach Santosh Kashyap on the contrary blamed the schedule for the loss. Playing their second game in a space of three days, the defending champions have also covered 2,627.8 km of distance after playing a home game to play the Minerva encounter.
“I think fatigue is the concern for us since there is no recovery time for my team. It’s tough to be playing so many matches closely,” said Kashyap.