Only a handful from Delhi travelled 25-odd kilometres to the Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Gurgaon for the derby between the Capital clubs Simla Youngs and New Delhi Heroes. However, the thrilling second division I-League encounter, which ended in a 2-2 draw, was worth the effort as they saw one team going ahead in the second-last minute of regulation time and the other drawing parity in injury time.

But while New Delhi Heroes left the field dejected, the Simla Youngs camp had a semblance of winning a thriller. A 2-1 victory, as it appeared till the 93rd minute, could have taken Heroes right to the top of the table, complicating things for Pune FC and Sesa Football Academy, while Youngs would’ve been out of contention. The draw would’ve brought further jitters for the former DSA League champions as they came from behind and then threw it away.

Though dominating on ball possession in the first half-an-hour, they gifted their opponents the lead when Egware Charles pounced on a loose ball on the left flank. The empty mid-field and defence had left the Nigerian only compatriot Stanley to beat as goalkeeper Rajat Guha started advancing. He took Stanley on one stride and Guha on another to strike it home. For rest of the match though, the striker got little assistance from fellow forward Obed Kamei and midfielders who were often falling back to defend.

New Delhi Heroes strikers Jiten Rai and Figo failed to combine too even as Marlanki Suiting was allowed a lot of space from outside the danger area. The youngster, after a lot of scrambling in the midfield with Nirmaldeep and Barister, finally brought home the equaliser by tapping in a block off Santosh’s long-throw within ten minutes of the second half.

Goal-bound flurry
The goal inspired a flurry of attacks from Stanley and Co and fitting denials from goalkeeper Kabma Tsemine, but the best was saved for the last. Suiting kept missing the post, Figo struggled to combine with his new team mates until the 89th minute when Barister tapped in a ground ball from Suiting after Nirmaldeep overran it. When it all seemed over for the Youngs, against the run of play, it finally went down to the third minute of the extra four minutes of play. Rajat Guha had, so far, pouched or cleared every ball to safety but could only fend off Oluwasegun Samson’s free-kick and the rebound was driven into the net by substitute Shaolshem Aboy.