New Zealander Kayne Vincent scored twice as Prayag United SC lengthened HASC's miserable beginning to the I-League season with a 2-0 victory, here on Thursday.
Vincent's goals — the second scored from the spot — arrived close to either end of the game, sending HASC crashing to its third straight home defeat. Captain Lalkamal Bhowmick, Rasaq Bello, and Denson Devadas turned in fine performances for the visitors while Jagaba Amaba Hamza fluffed two gilded chances in a largely unremarkable match.
R.C. Prakash sat out the game injured with defensive midfielder Sudheesh Muttath taking his place.
ADVERTISEMENT
The opening goal came in the ninth minute, conjured out of little, and took HASC somewhat by surprise.
Vincent's speed was always going to be a threat, and when Devadas threaded him in, the defence appeared leaden-footed as the striker slotted home without much fuss.
Hamza found himself in a similar position four minutes later when Ajith Kumar Singh played him through, but the Nigerian's first touch took him wide as he rounded the goalkeeper, and his second came off the upright.
ADVERTISEMENT
Muttath had not had a particularly bad time, but was taken off in the 33rd minute for defender Liliyan Kenneth, who more or less played the role of a third centre-half, weakening the team in the midfield.
Prayag United's fullbacks Chandrashekar Rao and Deepak Mondal kept up a supply of crosses into the area, but little came of them. Bello had marked Hamza out of the game in the first half, but when the latter did find himself free on the end of an inviting cross (by left-back Bijoy Das) in the middle of the second, he planted his header wide from 10 yards out.
Prayag's play had slowed down at this stage, both sides looking weary, but the goal, as it had in the first, owed itself to Vincent's swiftness and Devadas' invention. Six minutes from time, the latter played the Kiwi through again, except this time he was felled by an onrushing P. Pramod inside the area. The goalkeeper was booked, Vincent scored, and HASC was resigned to wallowing at the foot of the table.
The results: At Bangalore: HASC 0 lost to Prayag United SC 2 (Vincent 2). At Thiruvananthapuram: Demp 2 (Ranty Martins 2) bt Chirag United Kerala 1 (C.K. Vineeth). At Kolkata: Mohun Bagan 3 (Sunil Chhetri, Ashim Biswas, Jewel Raja) bt Churchill Brothers 0. At Margao: Salgaocar 1 (Anthony Barbosa) bt Mumbai 0.