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Pune FC dominated the game right from the word go. They displayed good passing and movement in the first half. They opened their account through tournament top scorer Gobin Sevaram. Striker Godson Okinawa tuned his defender well and then passed the ball withpin-point accuracy to Gobin who slotted the ball past the keeper with ease.
This goal set the pattern of the game as Jammu & Kashmir were mostly on the backfoot. Then just before half-time former India captain S Venkatesh extended the lead for his team. He drove through the defence, played a good one-two with Gobin Sevaram and then finished the ball well. The half ended 2-0. The second half saw J&K launching a few attacks on goal but none that troubled the keeper.They found it hard to get past the rock solid defensive pairing of Kamal Thapa and the Nigerian, Chika. Midfielder Asim Hassan wrapped the game up when he struck a thunderous long range shot straight inthe top corner of the goal. Soon after, the referee blew his finalwhistle and the match ended 3-0. J&K Police captain and centraldefender, Ajay Kumar, who had done well until this match letting inonly one goal found it tough to deal with the professional outfit. "Wehad a plan to man mark the opposition team. But we found it hard tostick to our plan in the game and that cost us. Overall, we werepleased with our performance in this tournament and we are lookingforward to next year's edition." Said the robust central defender.Pune FC head coach Stewart Hall was more than pleased with his team'sperformance. "We played great football today. Our passing was crispand our movement was fantastic. This win will give us confidence toplay in our next tournament in Chennai beginning on January 30."
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