Durand Cup: Bengaluru FC beat Inter Kashi 3-0, Chhetri scores

Kokrajhar (Assam) [India], August 3 (ANI): Former champions Bengaluru FC posted a comfortable 3-0 victory over I-League outfit Inter Kashi in Group B of the Durand Cup played here at the Kishore Bharati Krirangan (KBK) on Saturday.

The goals were scored by their Spanish recruits Edgar Mendez and Alberto Noguera Ripoll, with the final strike coming from their talisman Sunil Chhetri. The Blues after their opening four-goal win against the Indian Navy thus maintained a 100 per cent record while Inter Kashi, who drew their first game against Mohammedan Sporting, will look to win big in their final group game to harbour hopes of going through, as per Durand Cup press release.

Gerard Zaragoza made a couple of changes to his starting 11 and one of them Mendez, brought dividends in the first half itself with a calm composed penalty, wrong footing Subham Dhas in the Kashi goal. Talisman Sunil Chhetri again started from the bench but was brought on again, this time in the second half. Izumi Arata, the Kashi gaffer trusted the same 11 however, which won the point against Mohammedan Sporting in their first game.

The Pilgrims could not get a shot at goal in the first-half as the Blues took control of possession and most of the attacking forays. Inter Kashi’s defence however did well to thwart most of their efforts at goal till Panicker’s discretion in bringing the ball down with his chest inside the box cost them dearly. The referee pointed to the spot and Mendez broke the deadlock.

After the break, Zaragoza introduced all his big guns including Jorge Peryra Diaz and Ryan Williams, besides Chhetri as already mentioned and the Blues intensity went up instantly. Chhetri had two chances to score within minutes of coming on.

They had to eventually wait till the 77th minute for the second as Ripoll, who had been having a brilliant game in midfield, finished a move he himself initiated. He found Chhetri making a run inside the box on the right who crossed for Peryra Diaz to back-heel to Ripoll who had come in following the move. The Spanish midfielder made no mistake with the right-footed finish past Dhas.

Soon the third came when Chhetri nonchalantly came rushing into the near post off a corner and leaped to direct his header down perfectly, beating Dhas yet again. It could have been worse for Inter Kashi but Ryan Williams missed a penalty when Anand Usuda brought him down inside the box.