Indian Women's League: Sethu, KRYPHSA win on opening day

The two games saw a total of nine goals between them.

Defending champions Sethu FC made a flying start to their Indian Women's League campaign by a resounding score-line of 5-0 against Kolhapur City FC at the Bangalore Football Stadium on Friday, January 24. Amsavalli opened the scoring in the 18th minute before Sandhiya notched up a second half hat-trick, with K. Sumithra also opening her account to round off a thoroughly dominating victory. The initial exchanges between the two teams were cagey, but Sethu dominated possession, while Kolhapur’s Plan A involved catching their opponents on the break. The deadlock was broken in the eighteenth minute by Amsavalli, after she broke down the right flank, leaving her marker at bay before cutting in to the left and placing it clinically to put Sethu in front. [KH_ADWORDS type="4" align="center"][/KH_ADWORDS] The match headed into half-time with just the solitary goal in the book, leaving Kolhapur with a chance to weave a comeback. That changed after the hour mark, when Sandhya scored the second in the 61st minute, after she found herself 1v1 with the keeper, before gently placing it beyond keeper Shreya Hooda’s reach, to her far post. Just three minutes later, defender K. Sumithra rounded off the keeper to score the third before Sandhya scored her second and Sethu’s fourth in the 66th minute. The cherry on the icing on the top was added in the second minute of stoppage time. Sandhya broke through again, not for the first time today, to complete her hat trick, the first of this IWL season as the defending champions get their season underway with a statement victory. Kangchup Road Young Physical & Sports Association (KRYPHSA) FC cruised to a 4-0 victory against Kickstart FC Karnataka in the opening match of the 4th Hero Indian Women’s League (IWL) on Friday, January 24 at the Bangalore Football Stadium. Dangmei Grace scored a brace, with Anju Tamang and Ratanbali Devi also opening their IWL accounts, en route to a thoroughly dominant victory. KRYPHSA had the upper-hand on paper, boasting the likes of Sweety Devi at the back, Ratanbala Devi spearheading proceedings in attack and skipper Dangmei Grace in the middle of the park. The Manipuri started proving their mettle, right from kick-off. Dangmei Grace made no mistake when she was played through on goal, and with only the keeper to beat, hammered it onto the roof of the net to score the first goal of this season, in the 15th minute. Their lead was doubled just four minutes later, this time by Anju Tamang. In what seemed like a carbon copy of the first goal, she maintained her composure and slotted it past a helpless a Rashmi Kumari in the Kickstart goal. [KH_RELATED_NEWS title="RELATED NEWS | ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW"][/KH_RELATED_NEWS] It was Grace again, who capitalised on a total lapse of concentration in the Kickstart backline to add the third in the 36th minute. She had the chance to complete her hat-trick in the 41st minute, but the keeper did well to come out of her line and tackle her. The challenge seemed fair but the collision between the two, however, rendered both women unable to continue. Grace was replaced by Asharani Devi while substitute keeper Aiswarya A came on to replace their injured keeper. In the second half, Kickstart did very little to weave any real threat and KRYPHSA piled more misery on them with a fourth. In the 64th minute, a speculative clearance from just outside the Kryphsa box had put Ratanbali Devi through on goal, and with acres of space and ample time, she rounded off the keeper to rubberstamp the victory in emphatic fashion.