IWL 2020: Odisha Police and Sreebhumi FC register wins

Odisha Police opened their account in the ongoing Indian Women's League (IWL), beating local favourites Bangalore United FC at the Bangalore Football Stadium on Wednesday. Jasmani Samad's solitary strike in the 50th-minute was enough for the Odisha outfit to garner their first win after they went down against Kenkre FC in their first-round fixture on January 25.

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Following a couple of well-coordinated passes with Sasmita Behera, Anima Malik provided an inch-perfect pass to onrushing Jasmani, who having outrun Komal Kumari, slotted it past goalkeeper Vinaya Seshan to give the Red outfit a well-deserved lead. Just after the clock crossed the hour-mark, Karishma came close to double the lead but her free-kick from 30 yards ricocheted off the woodwork much to the relief of the Bangalore United FC defence.

Following their maiden win in this campaign, Odisha Police will face red-hot Gokulam Kerala in their next fixture on at 12 pm on Saturday before Bangalore United FC clash with Sreebhumi FC at 3 pm on the same day.

In other fixture, Sreebhumi FC outplayed Bidesh XI Sporting Club 2-0. Midfielder Poonam and Ritu Devi scored the two goals in the win for the side from West Bengal.

Sreebhumi and Bidesh came into the fixture at the back of losses against Gokulam Kerala FC and Bangalore United FC, respectively. With the win, Sreebhumi are now third in the Group B table with three points from two games. They are below Bangalore United FC (who are second) only because BUFC have same points in lesser number of games. Sreebhumi made the most of their chance in the 25th minute and drew first blood through midfielder Poonam. She dazzled past the Bidesh midfield and struck in the bottom right corner from outside the penalty box to beat goalkeeper Astrid Savia Pereira. As the half went by, Bidesh failed to control the game from the midfield as Sreebhumi dominated the ball and worked their way around with it. Sreebhumi doubled their lead in the 62nd minute when Ritu found the back of the net after latching on to a well-delivered corner. Bidesh tried but Sreebhumi's defence held their shape with ease to come out victorious.