The second quarter final of the J&K Invitation Cup was played today Friday at Astro Turf TRC between I-League champions Punjab Minerva FC Vs JK Bank FC.
In a early shock for the I-league champion team, J&K Bank took the lead in the 2nd minute after a long ball from the back was not intercepted by the defense, and striker Prem Kumar kept his cool to put the ball past the keeper.
Soon after slowly Minerva got into their passing stride with long spells on possession, which lead to some great chances which were missed by the Minerva strikers.
Punjab’s captain and midfielder Philip Ngoko was immense from midfield, playing an anchor role and distributing the ball to all quarters. His performance deservedly earned him the Man of the Match award.
Towards the end of the 1st half, Punjab equalised finally after neat interplay near the penalty area.
Jk bank put in a very decent performance in the 1st half, and entered the dressing room with an equal chance of victory.
In the second half, Punjab showed the crowd why they are the current I-League champions, with superb moves, sustained possession and change of tactics from possession to counter attack.
As the match was heading towards extra time, finally Punjab took the lead in stoppage time after a nice free kick into the penalty area was flicked on for William to tuck past the keeper.
Soon after there was a brilliant piece of skill from the captain Ngoku, going past two and then giving a deft pass to their No 10 playmaker Yu Kubaki, to score their their 3rd goal.
The final score was 3-1 to Punjab, but JK Bank can hold their heads high for an outstanding performance against one of the country’s best teams.
Tomorrow the remaining 2 quarter finals will be played between SFA FC vs Sudeva FC from Delhi at 12 pm, followed by Bengaluru FC v/s Lonestar Kashmir at 2:45 pm.
