Kezhose runs riot with four goals for Forerunners FC
Kohima, Oct. 20 (EMN): Forerunners' 4th NAP Thizama outclassed Tangkhul Student's Union Manipur 6-5 to claim the third place of the 18th NSF Martyrs’ Memorial Trophy here at the Kohima local ground on Friday.
In an eleven goal thriller, Kezhose ran riot with four goals as Forerunners narrowly scraped past Tangkhul Student's Union to end their tournament with a win and claimed the third place in the tournament.
Franky Hungshi’s hat-trick was not enough for the Tangkhul side as they failed to beat Forerunners in a nervy encounter.
With the win, 3rd place Forerunners FC will walk home with Rs 50,000 and 4th place Tangkhul Students Union will receive a cash award of Rs 30,000.
With four goals in a match, talisman Kezhose became the highest goal scorer of the tournament with 14 goals from 5 matches and Lima of Nagaland Police is trailing behind with 7 goals from 4 matches.
During the match, Mathew Kezhose opened the scoring for Forerunners FC in the 3rd minute as Soiham latches a through ball into Kezhose path; he went past the defenders to score the first goal. Within three minutes time, Peimi Kasar conceded an own goal as Soiham shot was deflected by the defender into its own net to give Forerunners doubled the lead.
However, Franky Hungshi pulled back a goal through a header in the 14th minute for the Tangkhul side.
Talisman Kezhose was on the score-sheet again as the defenders failed to clear the ball and was left unmarked as he netted the second goal in the 24th minute.
The soggy ground helped Hungshi of Tangkhul to net his second goal in the 45th minute to end the first half with 3-2 in favour of Forerunners.
Forerunners were paid for their slow start as the coach decided to change his strategy by fielding his young team in the second half, with Kezhose as a central defender.
The scrappy defense handed Tangkhul side for Franky Hungshi to complete his hat-trick in the 51st minute and equalised the scoreline with Forerunners 3-3.
Forerunners fought back and managed to take the lead again in the 59th minute through Soiham’s spot-kick conversion after a penalty was conceded inside the area by a defender.
With the match going in favour of Forerunners FC, Kezhose conceded a penalty for a foul inside the area handing Tangkhul the equaliser in the 88th minute as Thotthan Mung coolly converted the spot-kick.
The extra time saw three goals in the thriller with Kezhose scoring two more goals in the 92nd and 104th minute respectively. Ningam Vanyuinbou did score a consolation goal in the 99th minute but Forerunners FC won the match with a lead at the end of the final whistle. Meanwhile, in the valedictory programme, K.Therie, president of Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee will grace the occasion as the guest of honor.
Final match (Saturday) at 1 pm
Nagaland Police Red vs Barak FC
A Naga from Manipur, who holds the distinction of being the first among the Nagas to become an international referee in football, will be officiating the final match of the 18th NSF Martyrs’ Memorial Trophy on Saturday.
25-year-old Thumli Joyshing, who hails from Mosang Naga community, arrived in the state capital on Friday along with three other referees from Manipur.
The three other referees - Pheiroijam Lanthoiba, L. Rojit Meitei, and Md. Suaib Khan, are also associated referees of All India Football Federation, this was informed by the organisers of the tournament.
Joyshing officiated the first international match between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Nepal at Tajikistan and in the year 2017.
Thumli was selected for Project Future Asia Referee. He was also selected for professional games match officials an organisation developing referees for English Premier League in collaboration with All India Football Federation and Indian Super League held at Mumbai from October 8 to 11.
