Pune FC ‘A’ played out a thrilling 3-3 draw against their counterparts Pune FC ‘B’ in a Round-4 encounter of the PDFA Super Division League at the DSK Football Field in Loni on Saturday.
In a hard fought game, Pune FC ‘B’ rallied from behind thrice, to hold Pune FC ‘A’ who dropped points for the first time in this campaign. Nonetheless, Pune FC ‘A’ continue to lead the table with 10 points, while Pune FC ‘B’ moved up into the top-5 with 4 points.
In a hard fought game, Pune FC ‘A’ took a two goal lead in the first half with the in-form strike-pair of Farukh Choudhary and Arif Shaikh finding the back of the net. Midway through the first half, Farukh struck in the 24th minute latching on to a long ball from defender Manoranjan Singh before slotting it home. Arif then doubled the lead for the in the 38th minute when a pass from Farukh, combined with poor defending from the juniors, saw Arif reach for the ball and slot it in.
The second half began with Pune FC ‘B’ pulling a goal back in the 67th minute when skipper Sebastian Thangmuansang slotted one home.
However, Pune FC ‘A’ once again restored their two goal advantage with Dimple Bhagat making a lone customary run down the right flank to beat the Pune FC ‘B’ defence and striking home in the 73rd minute.
Nonetheless, Pune FC ‘B’ kept on pushing up and were duly rewarded for their persistence in the final quarter of the game. Goals from Kiran Saravanan in the 80th minute and Abhishek Mhaske in the 85th pulled Pune FC ‘B’ level five minutes from the final whistle.
Both sides created a couple of chances in the final minutes but the game ended 3-3.
