I-League 2024-25: Namdhari FC claim stellar 2-0 win over Inter Kashi

Inter Kashi are in the third spot in the I-League 2024-25 table.

Namdhari FC rose to second place in the I-League 2024-25 after beating Inter Kashi 2-0 at the Namdhari Stadium in Sri Bhaini Sahib on Monday, January 13, 2025.

The hosts, who played with ten men for almost the entirety of the second half, scored once in each period via Bhupinder Singh and Francis Addo. It was the fourth straight clean sheet for Namdhari and the second time they won a game after receiving a red card (after the 1-0 win over Real Kashmir).

Harpreet Singh’s team are now level on 14 points with Inter Kashi, but ahead on head-to-head. Inter Kashi’s second defeat of the campaign meant that Churchill Brothers regained the top spot in the league with 16 points.

Inter Kashi struggled to get any sort of a foothold in the opening stages of the match and Namdhari took advantage with a 13th-minute opening goal. Brazilian Cledon da Silva’s low strike from long range was parried by Arindam Bhattacharya but only towards the edge of the six-yard box. Bhupinder Singh was the quickest to pounce and thrashed in the rebound to score his first I-League goal for Namdhari.

Inter Kashi continued to be on the back foot and required an Anil Chawan block on the line to prevent a second Namdhari goal after Manvir Singh struck on target.

Inter Kashi struggled to make any impact

Antonio López Habas, back in the dugout after serving a suspension, removed Joni Kauko, who scored the winner against Dempo last week, and put on Julen Pérez after only half an hour. Gradually, the visitors began creating chances, the best of which came to Nikola Stojanović, who struck the woodwork with a curling left-footed free-kick. On another occasion, a Narayan Das corner caused commotion in the Namdhari box as the hosts put bodies on the line to block Mohammed Asif’s volley and Sumeet Passi’s shot.

The flow of the match completely changed in the 54th minute when Namdhari defender Lamine Moro was shown a second yellow card, reducing the hosts to 10 players. Harpreet responded by bringing on defender Akashdeep Singh in place of winger Peter Haokip, while Habas introduced Bidyashagar Singh and Vikash Singh.

Ultimately, completely against the run of play, Namdhari scored a second goal which killed the game. Cledson did all the hard work on the right wing, dribbling near the by-line before laying a cutback that Joseph Gordon was smart enough to let go so that Francis Addo could have a bite at it. The Ghanaian struck a sweet first-time shot into the bottom corner to seal the win for the hosts.

There was drama in the closing stages as Inter Kashi twice came close to scoring. First, Vikash’s cross-turned-shot landed in the back of the net but it did not count as Julen had interfered with the delivery from an offside position. Later Bidyashagar blazed over from point-blank range which meant Inter Kashi failed to score in a match for only the second time this season.

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