SAIL Burnpur edge ATK, make it to IFA Shield semis

 Sarajit Biswas scored late in the game to hand his team the three points.

SAIL Football Academy progressed into the semi-finals of the 122nd IFA Shield by defeating ATK 1-0 at the East Bengal Ground on Wednesday. Despite missing a penalty in the first half, a late winner from Sarajit Biswas was enough for the Burnpur side to qualify from Group A along with East Bengal.

The equations were set beforehand, with ATK needing to win in order to have a chance at making it to the semi-finals. For SAIL, their emphatic win over Mohammeddan Sporting had given them the edge over the others and they could qualify with a draw, so long as Mohammedden didn’t win big against East Bengal.

SAIL started on the front and created a big chance in the 3rd minute when Sudip Acharjee brazed past the ATK defense and set up an easy shot for Souvik Ghoshal, which was brilliantly saved by Koushik Majhi.

SAIL conjured up another chance in the six minutes later, when Abhijit Mondal's free-kick went straight at Majhi. ATK had a good chance in the 11th minute when winger Stephanson Pale was sent through on goal, but his poor shot was well wide of the target. SAIL received another golden opportunity in the 16th minute, with Sheikh Mohammed sailing free on goal, but his shot was parried out by Majhi, who was lucky to see it not fall to the roaming Israfit Dewar close to goal.

SAIL were counter-attacking pretty well, but just didn’t look to have their finishing boots on in the first third of the pitch. What started as an exciting game was reduced to a frustrating one for both sides after the 20th minute, with both struggling to unlock each other’s defenses. SAIL received a gift from ATK in the 39th minute when a bad pass found Dewar free on goal, but his shot hit the bar and came back, much to ATK's good luck.

However, SAIL's persistence gave them a penalty two minutes later, when right-back Sujit Soren's handball condemned his side a penalty. But, the corresponding spot-kick from Souvik Ghoshal was expertly saved by Majhi, who dived to his right and attached himself to the ball to keep the game level.

SAIL looked dejected from that penalty miss after the start of the second half, allowing ATK to gain more control of the game. But, their sloppiness allowed SAIL to get back into the game and in the 56th minute, Abhijit Mondal dribbled past a few defenders, but his shot was way off target.

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ATK looked quite hopeless in attack and failed to really test SAIL's keeper Kishan Singh. Understandably, SAIL were more than happy to see out a draw, which would’ve been enough for them to qualify for the semi-finals. The game became extremely slow after the hour mark and both teams didn’t look that interested in mounting attacking pressure and going for the win.

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Two half-chances were created by SAIL, but were both comfortably saved by the assured Majhi. ATK finally got a shot on target in the 84th minute when Ajoy Murmu's shot from distance was comfortably saved by Singh. But SAIL produced a brilliant move two minutes later and after good work on the right, a cross was played out to substitute Sarajit Biswas to calmly put the ball into the back of the net and give SAIL a precious lead.

While SAIL did get a few more big chances to score in the dying minutes of the match, that sole goal was enough for them to surprisingly make it to the semi-finals with East Bengal. They will mostly face Mohun Bagan in their next match later this week.