I-League 2nd Division : Hindustan FC and Real Kashmir set for epic league finish, TRAU and Ozone out of contention

Image : AIFF
Image: AIFF

A day marred with two draws with eight goals, as TRAU FC and Ozone FC fail to win against Real Kashmir and Hindustan FC respectively, in the I-League Second Division main round. This leaves Real Kashmir and Hindustan FC as the only two sides in contention for the I-League qualification.

Sportskeeda takes a look at both the games in brief :

Match 1: Ozone FC Bengaluru 2-2 Hindustan FC

Ozone FC got the match off to a flying start, as they took the lead in the 3rd minute after Sabeeth Sathyan found the back of the net, courtesy of a neat backheel assist from Yongchan Son.

Hindustan FC scored within two minutes through Kushan Singh, as his powerful shot went past a hapless Manoj Swamy as the scores were level.

Both the teams were resorting to wing play with aerial crosses from the flanks in a bid to take the lead.

Hindustan FC went into the lead as substitute Ashutosh Thapliyal unleashed a powerful shot into the back of the net in the 57th minute.

Ozone FC Bengaluru threw all of their men into offense looking for the equalizer with constant crossing. The Bengaluru based side were rewarded with the equalizer when Robert de Souza capitalized on a defensive mishap to restore parity in the 82nd Minute.

The match ended 2-2.

Match 2: Real Kashmir 2-2 TRAU FC

A game which had been a tale of two halves as Real Kashmir drew 2-2 with TRAU FC in the second game of the day.

Real Kashmir took the lead as the TRAU goalkeeper Tejuddin was out of his line punching an aerial ball away.

Tejuddin misjudged the height of the ball and missed it completely, allowing Tariq Mir to set up Ritwik Das, who slotted it home in an empty net, to give the Kashmiri based side the lead in the 38th minute.

Real Kashmir dominated the proceedings in the first half and went into the break with a 1-0 lead.

TRAU FC seemed like a resurrected side in the second half, as they dictated the game throughout the second half. With constant crosses and set pieces, they kept Sukhwinder Singh at goal busy.

TRAU FC got their reward as Emeka headed in from a cross in the 62nd minute to restore parity. Angousana Luwang scored from a freekick in the 88th minute to put TRAU ahead.

Just as it seemed that TRAU would run away with all three points, Nadong Bhutia found the back of the net in the additional time, courtesy of a huge deflection from Prem Singh to help Real Kashmir steal one point from the game.

What's next?

The I-League 2nd Division is set for an epic finish as Hindustan FC would face Real Kashmir in the final matchday of the league, on May 30 at 5:45 PM.

A draw for Real Kashmir would see them qualify for the I-League while Hindustan FC have a must-win situation.

Ozone FC will host TRAU FC earlier in the day on May 30 at 1:30 PM in what would be a dead rubber.

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Edited by Akhilesh Tirumala