It was barely a week ago that Namdhari FC parted ways with its coach Francesc Bonet. That meant the Spaniard could not return to a familiar venue; he was Gokulam Kerala’s coach last season.
The loss of its coach so early in the season did not seem to have affected Namdhari much, as it held the former champion to a 2-2 draw in the I-League on Saturday.
Long range equaliser
It looked like Namdhari would post its second win on its league debut, but, in the 82nd minute, substitute Komron Tursunov saved the host’s blushes, finding the equaliser with a long-ranger off a short pass from Edu Bedia.
Gokulam had taken the lead in the 35th minute through P.N. Noufal, who drove the ball firmly in after beating the defence with a swift run down the left, following a through ball from V.S. Sreekuttan.
But five minutes later, Akashdeep Singh equalised for the visitors, making use of poor defending by Salam Ranjan Singh.
Three minutes into the injury time in the opening half, Namdhari took the lead, Palwinder Singh heading home a fine cross from Sandeep Singh.
Earlier, Real Kashmir and Aizawl played out a goalless draw at Srinagar.
The results: Gokulam Kerala 2 (P.N. Noufal 35, Komron Tursunov 82) drew with Namdhari FC 2 (Akashdeep Singh 40, Palwinder Singh 45+3); Real Kashmir 0 drew with Aizawl 0.
