Guwahati, Aug 6 (PTI): Bodoland FC bounced back from their opening match defeat to NorthEast United with a commanding 3-0 win over FC1 in a Group F fixture of the Durand Cup at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium here on Thursday.
Robinson Rendon (57’), Rituraj Mohan (78’), and Aron Thapa (82’) scored for Bodoland FC.
At the coin toss, FC1 captain Ikhlaq Fayaz presented his Bodoland counterpart, Halicharan Narzary, with a sapling — a nod to the water-conservation and climate-awareness campaign that has shaped FC1’s Durand Cup debut.
Rendon put Bodoland ahead, heading home from Narzary’s cross after twice missing similar chances earlier in the evening.
Substitutes Mohan and Thapa then turned a single-goal lead into a rout inside four second-half minutes, both scoring within a quarter of an hour of being introduced — timing that owed at least as much to head coach Vikash Panthi’s reading of the game as it did to the finishers themselves.
The result leaves Group F intriguingly poised. Bodoland move to three points from two matches, still working off a negative goal difference after that opening humbling but very much back in contention on the back of a result that will have done wonders for their confidence.
FC1 remain level on three points from two games courtesy of their opening victory, and sit second in the table, above Bodoland on goal difference alone. NorthEast United top the group unbeaten, with Karbi Anglong Morning Star FC yet to open their account. PTI AH AH TAP
