Tursunov's early strike for TRAU sinks Aizawl

KOLKATA: Tiddim Road Athletic Union (TRAU) rode on an early strike from Tajikistan striker

Komron Tursunov

to get back to winning ways and to the upper half of the I-League table with a 1-0 victory over Aizawl FC in another northeast derby at Kalyani Stadium on Tuesday.

After setting the record for the fastest I-League goal in their opener against Real Kashmir, TRAU's Tajik recruit gave the Manipur club the breakthrough in the fourth minute with their first attack of the match. Earning the ball on counter-attack, Tursunov made a run towards the six-yard box and unleashed a powerful shot that beat Aizawl 'keeper Lalmuansanga en route the back of the net.

The goal came as a shock to the Mizoram club, who had conceded just three goals prior to the kick-off on Tuesday and were the better and more attacking team for most of the match. Brandon Vanlalremdika was the chief architect for them - making runs from the middle and sending in crosses for MC Malsuamzuala to convert. But in vain.

TRAU stayed content with posing threats on the counter with Tursunov regaining his form and his strike partner Bidyasaghar Singh keeping up the momentum that has made him the joint top scorer in the league so far.

While the Yan Law-coached Aizawl came close to scoring a few times, their eagerness for an equalizer was matched by the skills of TRAU's debutant goalkeeper Amrit Gope. Roped in by the northeast club this season from

Jamshedpur

FC and shown confidence in by coach Nandakumar Singh, the youngster kept demoralising the Aizawl attackers throughout the match.

The closest that Aizawl came to scoring was in the 37th minute when they won a penalty from a tackle by TRAU left back Shahabaz on Ramhlunchhunga. But Ramhlunchhunga went for the panenka and completely miscued it as it hit the left post and went past the goalline.

With the win, TRAU went up to the third spot on the table, three points behind leaders

Churchill Brothers

, on 11 from seven games while Aizawl went down to the eighth position.

In the other match of the day involving a northeast contender, 10-man

NEROCA FC

went down 1-2 to Chennai City. While Subhash Singh came up with a late strike for the Imphal-based club, they were undone by an early strike from Vineeth Velmurugan and another from Demir Advic after Shoib Akhtar was shown the red card.

Meanwhile,

Punjab FC

beat Indian Arrows 2-1 to strengthen their position on second, two points behind Churchill.