HASC's desperate quest for its first points at home remained unfulfilled but Sunday's I-League defeat to Air India here will have hurt more than the others.
The 4-2 scoreline flatters the victor, HASC having agonizingly gifted away the first two goals. The host went ahead twice in the first half – Malengamba Meitei scoring the opener inside two minutes – only to see the lead evaporate. Manjeet Singh's set-pieces played a part in all but the last of Air India's goals, his free-kick from distance fortuitously going in for the second. The HASC team that turned out on Sunday, though, was markedly different in intent from its earlier versions – purposeful, direct, and quick to move play upfield.
The opener arrived not long after the whistle; Vinoth Kumar raced down the right flank after a fruitless Air India appeal for handball. His cross found Meitei unmarked at the far post, and the latter buried his header without mistake. The lead lasted only six minutes however, as Manandeep Singh deflected Manjeet's curling free-kick from the left side of the area in. An unmarked Jagaba Hamza was offered a gilded opportunity to restore HASC's lead two minutes later, but he scuffed a simple sidefoot from ten yards out. HASC's Serbian import Aleksandar Sujdovic was handed his first I-League start, alongside Hamza in a two-man attack, and the pair combined wonderfully to produce the second goal. Hamza controlled a throw-in on the edge of the area before doing well to find Sujdovic with his cut-back from the right; the latter calmly swept the ball into the net. Chances arrived at the other end too but Air India's efforts were wayward on an afternoon neither goalkeeper was overworked from open play. The visitor drew level, however, on 57 minutes. Pramod stepped out to Manjeet's free-kick from close to 35 yards out, and flapped hopelessly as the bail sailed over his head into the net. Rattled, HASC threw on a third attacker in R.C. Prakash, but was badly hit on the counter-attack. Ezeh Henry smashed in a Manjeet corner from close range for Air India's third, making the most of the kerfuffle in the box. Substitute Sandesh Gadkari bagged his side's fourth.
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