Indian Women's League: Bidesh, Odisha Police grab important wins

The two games of the day saw three goals between them.

Sreebhumi FC trounced Bidesh XI Sporting Club 2-0 in Hero Indian Women's League clash at the Bangalore stadium on Wednesday (January 29, 2020). It was an even start to the match with both teams locked in an intense midfield battle. Jeromina Colaco and Macrenna Dias of Bidesh XI were orchestrating play from the centre of the park but lack of quality balls were not helping their cause. Sreebhumi made the most of their chance in the 25th minute and drew first blood through midfielder Poonam. She breezed past her way from midfield and unleashed a deadly shot from outside of the penalty box to beat goalkeeper Pereira. Around the half-hour mark, they could have doubled the lead if they had taken advantage of a miscommunication between Bidesh's defenders and Pereira. An inswinging corner kick was floated in and four defenders went for the ball along with the final custodian. There was a clash and the ball spilt out of Pereira's hands, but fortunately, there were no pink shirts to pounce on the error. Sushmita Yadhav of Bidesh got a sight of goal in the 39th minute but the striker ballooned her shot over the crosspiece after burning her pace to beat Sreebhumi's defenders. [KH_ADWORDS type="4" align="center"][/KH_ADWORDS] It was an inspired start to the second half from Bidesh XI as they went all guns blazing for the equaliser. But it was the women in pink who doubled their lead in the 62nd minute when Ritu Devi found the back of the net after latching on to a well-delivered corner. Bidesh XI girls tried their level best but it was not enough to deter Sreebhumi'x first win in the campaign. Odisha Police edge Bangalore United Odisha Police opened their account in the ongoing Hero Indian Women's League 2019-20, having beaten local favourites Bangalore United FC at the Bangalore Football Stadium today (January 29, 2020). Jasmani Samad's solitary strike in the 50th-minute was enough for the Odisha outfit to garner their first win after they went down against Kenkre FC in their first-round fixture on January 25, 2020. Bangalore United forward Paromita Sit got an early chance to open the scoring as early as in the third minute but her right-footed volley flew over the crossbar. Six minutes later, Odisha Polie skipper Karishma Oram headed it wide to let the opportunity go begging. [KH_RELATED_NEWS title="RELATED NEWS | ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW"][/KH_RELATED_NEWS] Although both the teams tried to shift the gear in their quest to break the deadlock, no one could encash the chances in the first 45 minutes. After the changeover, Odisha Police took not more than five minutes to finally score the opening goal of the match, through Jasmani Samad, which eventually, proved to be the differential factor until the final whistle. Following a couple of well-coordinated passes with Sasmita Behera, Anima Malik provided an inch-perfect pass to onrushing Jasmani who, having outrun Komal Kumari, slotted it past goalkeeper Vinaya Seshan in the 50th minute to give the Red outfit a well-deserved lead. Just after the clock crossed the hour-mark, Karishma came very close to double the lead but her freekick form 30 yards ricocheted off the woodwork to leave Bangalore United FC defence relieved. Following their maiden win in this campaign, Odisha Police will face red-hot Gokulam Kerala in their next fixture on at 12:00 PM on Saturday (February 1, 2020) before Bangalore United FC clash their swords with Sreebhumi FC at 03:00 PM on the same day.