Army Red held Jamshedpur FC to a 2-2 draw in its group ‘A’ league match of the 129th Durand Cup, played at the Kalyani Stadium on Friday. The other match held at Howrah Municipal Corporation Stadium saw Indian Air Force prevailing over TRAU FC, Imphal by a solitary goal in a group ‘D’ fixture.
The group ‘A’ result signaled an end of road for both the sides as Army Red tailed two points to finish its campaign with two draws and a loss. Having lost its opening match by a half dozen goals to East Bengal, the developmental side of Jamshedpur FC collected its first point from the draw against Army Red.
With just a match remaining, even a win cannot see Jamshedpur past the current group leader East Bengal, which has already collected six points from two wins.
Looking to sign off with a win, Army Red found the lead early in the fourth minute when N. Suresh Meitei finished with a nice header. The Jamshedpur boys found the equalizer in the 17th minute off Vimhal Kumar, who later helped his side gain the lead scoring his second goal in the 33rd minute.
The armymen returned strongly after the break and found the equalizer in the 67th minute off a penalty, which was netted by Suresh Meitei for his second goal of the match.
Indian Air Force started its campaign well against the newly promoted I-League side TRAU securing the full quota of points off a second-half goal. Mohammad Aqib made the most of a set-piece situation to give the airmen the decisive lead in the 63rd minute. With the three points, the Air Force team joined Gokulam Kerala FC on top of the group table.
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