South United FC beat CIL FC 1-0 to book Puttaiah Memorial Cup Semi Finals berth
A thrilling contest saw SUFC win out by a narrow margin of 1-0 against CIL FC, though the gap could’ve been much larger between the two sides. CIL FC barely threatened during the game other than a few sporadic opportunities.
The game began with CIL FC seeing little of the ball but frustrating South United FC as they took a few minutes to find their feet in the game and get their rhythm going. The orange-clad men had a few early scares as CIL threatened to breach their defense, but it was all soon forgotten as they began to get a foothold in the game.
South United FC dominated the first half, for the most part, coming close a few times but missing the final touch or being thwarted by a few excellent saves by the CIL FC goalkeeper. It seemed for a while that despite creating many chances, the group leaders may come away with just a point.
It changed quickly in the second half as in little more than a minute, the South United captain Magesh picked up the ball deep in his own half and went on a marauding run before pausing and finding Lokesh in the box with a sublime ball over the top. The midfielder slotted it past the keeper who got a flailing arm to the ball, but it would still find the net to register the only goal of the game.
Several chances created in the second half would also see South United go close on more than 3 occasions. What could have been a 3-0 or 4-0 scoreline, however, remained 1-0 giving CIL FC some hope.
The boys in red and white gave it a push in the second half as well but found themselves lacking against a determined South United defense.