Tiddim Road Athletic Union (TRAU) knew the importance of a win in their match on Friday and they managed to snatch three points from Aizawl FC with a confident 3-1 victory at Khuman Lampak Stadium in Imphal.
The dominating hosts used the Brazilian touch as Fernandinho opened the scoring as early as in the sixth minute before turning creator to combine with Gerson Vieira, who added a second just 12 minutes later. Aizawl’s R Ramdinthara (35’) snatched one back for the visitors before the break, but Salam Johnson Singh’s fifth goal of the season just a minute after the change of ends dealt the final blow as TRAU completed another home win.
The victory took them to the third spot on the I-League table with 29 points from 17 games as they pushed defending champions Gokulam Kerala a rung down to the fourth spot. Aizawl, on the other hand, stayed on the sixth position with 23 points in their kitty.
However, the first goal was a rather soft one as Fernandinho found space just outside the Aizawl penalty area and his shot, that lacked power, was completely misread by goalkeeper Vikram Singh, who was in the wrong position to make any attempt at saving it.
The Brazilian then helped his team double the lead, finding his countryman Gerson with a corner, who headed TRAU into a two-goal lead.
Ramdinthara — a bright spot in Aizawl attack — halved the deficit for the People’s Club in the first half as he tapped the ball into an open goal following a low cross from the right wing by HK Lalhruaitluanga.
While none of the teams could change the scoreline further in the remainder of the first half even with the end-to-end action on the field, Komron Tursunov played a defence-splitting pass to Salam, who dribbled past the Aizawl goalkeeper Vikram for a clinical finish that put the game to bed early in the second half.
With more than half-a-dozen corners, a few lucrative free-kicks and move creative moves into the box that were met with a couple of great saves from TRAU custodian Lunkhominlenmang Jedidi Haokip, Aizawl attackers failed to find any more breakthroughs as TRAU pocketed all three points on offer.
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