A blink of an eye: I-League 2nd Division weekly round-up

The I-league 2nd Division has been closely fought and there have been some very interesting results in the first few weeks. . .

As the final phase of the I-league 2nd division was played earlier this month, the previous seven days have been instrumental to all the teams to shape their tactics and approach.

All efforts are being put to a simple yet complicated task, of getting promoted to the top tier of Indian football, which will see one deserving candidate being promoted to the I-League. A battle royale nonetheless between these six titans, the competition just got real! In the last three rounds that have been played, the representatives of West Bengal football have shown prowess, with Southern Samity emerging as one of the favourites to be promoted to the I-League alongside Neroca FC and Delhi United. 

Southern Samity currently sit at the top the table with seven points followed closely by Neroca FC and Delhi United in the second and third places with five points and four points respectively. Fateh Hyderabad AFC, Kenkre FC and Lonestar Kashmir Football Club occupy the bottom of the second division table with hopes to turn their luck confident in the coming fixtures.

The current table of I-league 2nd Division

The final round of the Second Division league started with league giants Southern Samity and Neroca FC sharing spoils in a tactical game, concluding with one goal each. The next day, either of Fateh Hyderabad AFC and Lonestar Kashmir FC failed to capitalise over the league giants as the match finished as a goalless draw.

Kenkre FC and Delhi United followed suit once again the next day with a scoreline of 2-2 which eventually made the league table unstable for the time being. The absence of the winning mentality forced all the clubs to rethink their strategy in the second game week.

After some minor changes in the approach, Neroca FC, Delhi United and Southern Samity all retaliated and went back to the winning ways after defeating Kenkre FC, Fateh Hyderabad AFC and Lonestar Kashmir FC. Lack of creativity once again came back to haunt the Hyderabad-based club as they were denied another win against Neroca FC in the third game week at Gachibowli Stadium in Hyderabad.

With Neroca dropping points, Southern Samity capitalised on the fault as the Kolkata-based team nabbed yet another positive result against Delhi United in the second match of the third game week, defeating the Delhites 1-0 with an early strike at Barasat Stadium.

With the 2nd division table already forming up to some extent, one must not take it for granted until the end of the season. However, with a lot of game weeks left to be played and all the strategies yet to be deployed, the league standings will only change in the days to come.