Punjab FC ended their Next Generation Cup 2023-24 campaign on a high beating the home team Aston Villa comprehensively to take the third spot in the final standings as the Shankarlal Chakraborty-coached team showed glimpses of their potential with a tactically brilliant game to shut down the far more physically imposing to Villa players at the Bodymoor Heath Aston Villa Training Facility on Sunday. The other two Reliance Foundation Development League (RFDL) teams – Muthoot FA and East Bengal FC endured big losses and finished sixth and eighth, respectively.
While Muthoot lost to Everton 1-6, East Bengal ended their campaign with a goal in the tournament losing 1-7 to Crystal Palace. Aston Villa finished fourth, Everton fifth and Crystal Palace were placed seventh.
The final, played the Loughborough University ground, saw the tournament’s standout team Stellenbosch FC make easy work of Tottenham Hotspurs, winning the summit clash by 2-0 courtesy two first half goals from skipper Shaakir Ahmed and Kyle Bailey. Stellenbosch were the runner-up last year to Wolverhampton Wolves.
Punjab FC Show Their Class
Punjab, after their stunning win over Everton the previous day, continued their hot form and pressed forward with aplomb, and earned a penalty early in the piece courtesy Omang Dodum. Manglenthang Kipgen put Punjab FC ahead in the 13th minute with a calm left foot towards the right corner.
Under pressure, Aston Villa pushed had even more and created plenty of chances, only to be denied by Punjab FC custodian Ayush Deshwal and the back four of Punjab FC who had a stellar game all throughout the 50 minutes.
Dodum doubled Punjab FC’s lead 10 minutes into the second half with an accurate strike. An erroneous header attempt by Aston Villa gave Dodum a chance to make a run towards the goal and he found the back of the net with his immaculate finishing skills.
AS Aston Villa continued to push forward, the Punjab FC defense became even more resolute and started dictating the pace of the game, a far cry to their previous games, and that frustrated Villa players further.
“Our players have been improving their performances with every passing game. It is a testament to the fact that more exposure trips will further fine-tune their skills and help them develop at both individual and collective levels as a team,” Punjab FC head coach Sankarlal Chakraborty said after the game.
Brief Scores: Punjab FC 2 (Manglenthang Kipgen 13’, Omang Dodum 35’) – 0 Aston Villa FC
Crystal Palace Run Riot vs East Bengal
Crystal Palace had a field day vs East Bengal FC, putting seven goals past the hapless defense. Crystal Palace were particularly effective from the set pieces with as many as four goals from the stoppages – with one of them being an own goal.
EB FC, the runners-up to Punjab FC in the RFDL Championship 2023-24, ended the campaign conceding 14 goals in 4 matches and looked out of sorts after their first game. Caleb Redhead bagged a brace whereas Matteo Dashi notched a hat-trick, with the latter capping off his treble through a spot-kick in the 42nd minute. Sunil Bathala from East Bengal FC scored an own goal in the 20th minute. The goal-scoring carnival commenced with Jean Somade nodding home a header in the fourth minute of the match. For East Bengal FC, Debojit Roy secured a consolation goal in the 43rd minute of the game.
Brief Scores: Crystal Palace 7 (Jean Somade 4’, Matteo Dashi 12’ 21’ 42’, Caleb Redhead 31’ 33’, Sunil Bathala 20’) – 1 East Bengal FC (Debojit Roy 43’)
Fatigued Muthoot FA Gasp for Breath vs Everton
Everton bounced back from their 1-2 loss against Punjab FC yesterday by brushing aside Muthoot FA 6-1, thanks to a complete team effort. Striker George Morgan top-scored with a brace, netting once each in the fifth and 31st minutes of the game respectively.
Braiden Graham opened the scoring in the third minute, and Aled Thomas and Joel Catesey found the back of the net in quick succession in the 13th and the 14th minute of the first half. Callum Bates added to that with a strike in the 16th minute, which completely rolled over the sixth minute strike notched by Mohammed Enas.
Brief Scores: Everton FC 6 (George Morgan 5’ 31’, Braiden Graham 3’, Aled Thomas 13’, Joel Catesey 14’, Callum Bates 16’) – 1 (Mohammed Enas)
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