Olympics Begin In
:
Days
:
Hours
:
Mins
 
Secs
Begin typing your search above and press return to search.

Football

Durand Cup 2022: NEROCA FC secure bragging rights in Imphal Derby against TRAU FC

The derby ended with NEROCA winning 3-1 against local rivals TRAU FC in the Durand Cup 2022.

Durand Cup 2022: NEROCA FC secure bragging rights in Imphal Derby against TRAU FC
X

NEROCA FC players celebrating a goal against TRAU FC (Source: Suman Chattopadhyay)

By

The Bridge Desk

Published: 18 Aug 2022 4:01 PM GMT

Derby nerves were clear as end to end as well as tough football was on display right from the starting whistle with both sides not willing to give an inch. TRAU in-fact had the first real chance as the Neroca defence was caught but keeper Soram Porei was more than up to the task.

Then came the goal, a good team effort by the Orange brigade involving John and a cross from Lunminlen Haokip which was brilliantly side-footed into the net by Tangva who literally bulldozed into the box.

Neroca's joy was short lived however as the classy Komron Tursunov got on the scoresheet, getting at the end of a cross from Khanngam.

Attacks continued from both ends with Neroca slowly getting the upper hand and they finally got their reward when Thomyo headed in from a cross by the overlapping Singson. The Orange supporters were definitely the happier going into the break and they would remain so till the end.

Any hopes of a win that TRAU would have nurtured going into the break, evaporated just five minutes into the second-half and largely of their own doing. John Chidi always lurking around, intercepted a catastrophic back-pass to the keeper and calmly slotted home and Neroca were 3-1 up in the derby.

Their opponents looked a little bereft of ideas after the third goal and both teams seemed content on ball possession. The frustration of the TRAU players in particular also led to a bit of needle on the field.

TRAU did give it their all in the last 10-mins or so to be fair but keeper Porei stood tall. The best chance they had of getting one back came in the fourth minute of added time when Arjun Singh found Komron with a brilliant cross from the right, but to everyone's surprise, the Tajik missed a relatively easy tap-in by his standards.

Neroca have a longer break before their second game, taking on the Army Red on the 24th of August at the same venue, while TRAU go head-to-head against Hyderabad FC on the 22nd of August at the Khuman Lampak as well.

Next Story