During their worst performance this season, a 0-5 drubbing to Royal Rangers, Youngmen FC were two-men short throughout the 80 minutes of play without drawing a red card. The first eleven for the next match against Air Force (New Delhi) which the airmen won 2-0, was arranged hastily by bringing in a couple of faces and since the third match, there’s been a turnaround of sorts.

“Seven of us (from Youngmen FC) were playing for the Delhi under-19 team in Bhilai. We couldn’t play our best team as all of us are a part of the playing XI. This hurt us in the beginning (against Royal Rangers) but now with most of the frontline players coming back, we’re back on track,” clarifies skipper Gagan Singh Chauhan.

Comeback kids
Chauhan, PZ Johnmao, Ritesh Kumar, Ankit Sharma, Raghav Khurana, Kushagra Rastogi and Arvind Mandarwal missed the first two matches for the club while their participation in the next three earned Youngmen a win (over Ahbab FC), a draw (against Garhwal Heroes) and a loss (to Shahadra FC) and four points -good enough for showing the two Air Force teams the door with a game in hand.

Raghav Khurana, the second highest goal-scorer for Delhi in the BC Roy Trophy with three goals, feels the performance in Bhilai has helped putting together the pieces. “Our (members of Youngmen FC) performance there as a bunch gave us the confidence coming into the DSA league.”

Unfortunately though, Raghav hasn’t found his scoring boots here at home and missed a game due to his final examinations while his team frittered away a chance of making it to the next round with Friday’s draw.