It was a historic day for Punjab FC on Day 3 of the Next Generation Cup at the Bodymoor Heath Aston Villa training academy as they picked up a 2-1 win over Premier League youth side Everton, making them only the second Reliance Foundation Developmental League team to pick up a win against the Premier League side in the short history the competition.
Punjab FC strikers delivered at the highest level as the team also won the penalty shootout to earn four points for the day. Manglethang Kipgen and Usham Thoungamba Singh were the stars of the day for Punjab FC after Joel Catesby scored in the 11th minute to put Everton in front.
The Leighton Baines side came into the match after drubbing East Bengal 6-0 and started really well applying the pressure on Punjab FC’s defence, but the lively midfield of the Indian club ensured that it was end-to-end play with Kipgen and Muhammed Suhail at the forefront of it.
Kipgen levelled the scores in the 26th minute with a sublime goal – chipping on over to the far post from the edge of the box to bring Punjab back in it and even though Everton continued to press forward, they failed to create an opening courtesy of the stellar defence of the Shankarlal Chakaraborty-coached side.
And in the 43rd minute, Punjab FC managed to pull off an exceptional team goal by building from the back. Kipchen was once again at the centre of the action as after his running inside evading two Everton defends, he set one up for No.12 Usham who fired one from the edge of the box to the bottom right to beat the Everton keeper George Pickford in the 42nd minute to put Punjab ahead. Punjab staved off Everton’s onslaught for eight more minutes to claim the first victory for an RFDL team in the tournament this year and went on to claim the bonus point as well as winning the penalty shootout.
Punjab FC’s coach Sankarlal Chakraborty talked about learning from the past two days and applying all the knowledge gained to the contest today. They maintained more ball possession and were brilliant on both sides of the field while maintaining their composure even in the face of adversity.
“We conceded a goal but nobody got demoralised, and that is the true strength of our players. Our full team used team spirit and dominated our rivals technically and tactically to achieve success,” Punjab FC coach Sankarlal Chakraborty said after his team’s thrilling victory against Everton FC.
He added that the entire team feels proud of their win today because an Indian side defeated a European team, saying, “As a coach, and from the perspective of the full team, we are all feeling very proud because a European team was defeated by an Indian team.”
Brief Scores: Punjab FC 2 (Manglethang Kipgen 26’, Usham Thoungamba Singh 42’) – 1 Everton FC (Joel Catesby 11’)
East Bengal FC Go Down 0-4
Meanwhile, the situation wasn’t as cheerful on the other pitch as East Bengal FC suffered yet another loss. They were defeated 4-0 by Aston Villa FC in regulation and also couldn’t capitalise in the mandatory penalty shootout.
Aston Villa FC dominated possession and controlled the tempo of the game consistently. They were equally effective in both halves and East Bengal FC, despite their tireless defense was unable to contain the English side’s strikers.
Rory Wilson and I’Lani Edwards scored in the 9th and 16th minute, respectively while Omar Khedr and Mason Cotcher found the back of the net in the 34th and 39th minute, respectively.
Brief Scores: Aston Villa FC 4 (Rory Wilson 9’, I’Lani Edwards 16’, Omar Khedr 34’, Mason Cotcher 39’) – 0 East Bengal FC
Muthoot FA Succumb 0-4
A few hours earlier, Tottenham Hotspur FC faced off with Muthoot FA and the result was similar to the Aston Villa FC vs East Bengal FC game. Across the 50-minute game, Spurs held the upper hand and were seamless upfront. The Anees Koraliyadan-coached side was industrious in their efforts on both ends of the pitch too, but fell short of maintaining adequate discipline at the back, thus giving the Spurs abundant opportunities to find the back of the net.
Beggs pierced into the Muthoot FA box with sheer pace, he delivered a deft low cross that James tapped in to open the scoring for the game. The following two goals were solo efforts by the Tottenham Hotspur FC players. Leon Myrtaj drilled into the right side of the 18-yard box, before doubling the lead of the North London side in the 28th minute.
A long ball in the 44th minute was brought down by Reiss Elliott-Parris with a sublime first touch and then slotted past Muthoot FA goalkeeper Kamalesh Mathivanan, who had rushed ahead of his line. Three minutes later, Luca Williams-Barnett received and netted a marvellous cross from Miracle Adewole, to round off a convincing outing for Tottenham Hotspur FC. They followed it up by winning the mandatory penalty shootout by a 3-2 margin, thus bagging the bonus point as well.
Brief Scores: Tottenham Hotspur FC 4 (Herbie James 10’, Leon Mytraj 28’, Reiss Elliott-Parris 44’, Miracle Adewole 47’) – 0 Muthoot FA.
