SUPER DIVISION

Guwahati, Sept 9: A brace each by Nigerian striker Michael Lucky Kelechukwu and George Prince fashioned a facile 5-0 victory for FC Green Valley in their RG Baruah Trophy Guwahati Super Division Football League match against Sunrise Athletic Club at Nehru Stadium here today.

In a fast-paced encounter between two experienced sides of the league, Sunrise paid the price of indifferent defending and absence of a coach on the bench.

Green Valley dominated the proceedings as early as in the seventh minute when midfielder Gaiham Rongmei launched a power-packed shot from outside the box off a pass from playmaker Prabal Deka to ruffle the net.

Two minutes later, Prince consolidated the lead. Michael's shot from the left flank rebounded of the second post to find Prince unmarked inside the box. He made no mistake in shooting it into the second post for the second goal. Prince took another spectacular shot in the 15th minute that called Sunrise custodian Shanti Ranjan Das into action diving full length to fist it away.

Opportunities came Sunrise's way, too, in the first half, but their frontliners failed to take chances. A midfield pass by L. Zwala found Maneswar Mushahary unmarked at the top of the box on the right flank in the 28th minute.

The latter managed to get the better of the solid Green Valley defence, but his shot missed the woodwork by a whisker. Sunrise had to field their second goalkeeper Munshi Saifuddin towards the end of the first half with Das injuring his waist while trying to stave off an attack.

Towards the end of the first half, the men in green-and-white found the net a couple of times more to make it 4-0. Prince got a long pass at the left flank off a counter-attack from Thomson Langthasa which the former carried forward through the almost non-existent opponent defence to take the shot from inside the box. Though substitute keeper Saifuddin managed to lay his hands on the grounder with a dive, he could not prevent it from entering the net in the 42nd minute.

Michael made mockery of the Sunrise defence when he got a pass from Prince to dribble into the box and ruffle the net with ease in the 45th minute.

The Sunrise defence line was strengthened only in the second half with Benjamin stepping in to replace Sachin Basumatary at half-time.

However, they could not match the speed and skill of Michael once again when he got a midfield pass from Prabal Deka to strike again for the fifth goal of the match in the 57th minute. Midway through the second half, the Sunrise men regrouped for a fight back and managed to breach the opponent defence on a few occasions. However, the men upfront - Apurba Phukan and Rahul Boro - were disappointing in their finishing today.

A Division League: Sports Authority of India SC held Rajbari AC to a 1-1 draw in a match of the Jibeswar Goswami Trophy first division league on the second turf of the Nehru Stadium today.

While Tomba Singh put Rajbari ahead in the 24th minute, Pulak Baruah equalised for SAI in the 45th minute. The second half witnessed a stiff contest between the two sides, but none could break the deadlock.