Mason Robertson’s brace helps Real Kashmir earn a point against TRAU

Tiddim Road Atheltic Union (TRAU) were held to a 2-2 draw by Real Kashmir at the Khuman Lampak Stadium on Sunday afternoon. 

Mason Robertson (27′, 83′) scored a brace for Kashmir, whereas Princewell Emeka (78′) and Patrick Uche (83′) were on the scoresheet for the hosts. 

TRAU made a single change to their starting XI that was narrowly beaten by East Bengal as Gurpreet Singh under the sticks was relegated to the bench in favour of Mithun Samanta. 

Whereas, David Robertson fielded a full-strength Real Kashmir side with Gnohere Krizo leading the lines with Mason Robertson as his partner. Aaron Katebe slotted in at the centre of the park in a four-man midfield alongside Danish Farooq, Farhan Ganie and Kallum Higginbotham. Meanwhile, Phurba Lachenpa with the gloves was shielded by Dalraj Singh and Loveday Okechukwu at the heart of defense. 

It was a brisk start to the match as both teams were looking to test opposition goalkeepers at every single opportunity. TRAU was using their left flank to weave most of their attacks through Denechandram Meetei. The full-back made overlapping runs and was crossing into the box with Emeka as the target-man. But Dalraj and Okechukwu were on their toes to deal with the aerial threats. 

Robertson’s men adopted a more direct approach and were relying mostly on long balls with Krizo being the marksman. Mason played the role of a perfect foil as he was winning most of the second balls and did the job of holding up play. 

In the 27th-minute the visitors drew first blood through Mason. Again it was a long ball that did the trick for Kashmir. Sandeep Singh’s poor trapping allowed Mason to pick his pocket. The Scottish striker then wasted no time to rifle a grounded shot at goal which went between the legs of Deepak Devrani and beyond the reach of Samanta to hand his team the lead. 

After conceding TRAU were struggling to get back their rhythm. They could hardly move out of their own half and their efforts to play out from the back were being nipped in the bud by some high pressing from Kashmir’s Krizo and Higginbotham. 

After the half-time break, TRAU restarted their search for an equaliser with renewed vigour and earned a couple of corners within the first five minutes. Although the debutantes could not make most of those set-pieces they had at least been able to push Kashmir to the backfoot. 

In the second half, TRAU restarted their search for an equaliser with renewed vigour and earned a couple of corners within the first five minutes. Although the debutantes could not make most of those set-pieces they had at least been able to push Kashmir to the backfoot. 

But their resurgence soon fizzled out and Kashmir once again started to dominate proceedings through Katebe and Higginbotham in midfield. 

Just before the hour-mark, Krizo was through on goal and Kashmir could have had their insurance if Uche had not averted the danger with a last-ditch sliding tackle. 

With 20 minutes left on the clock, Koffi Tetteh was brought on by Nandakumar Singh salvage at least a point from the match. This change had a significant effect on the match as the hosts seemed to their teeth in the attacking third with an added striker upfront. 

In the 78th minute, TRAU finally found the equaliser when Emeka jumped the highest and skipped his marker to head home a cross from Meetei. 

Four minutes later they took the lead for the first time in the match when Uche scored a sublime goal from a free-kick around 25yards away from goal. The Nigerian went for placement and he was aided by a slight deflection off Mason which completely wrong-footed keeper Phurba Lachenpa under the sticks. 

But they could not hold on to their lead even for a minute as the Snow Leopards bounced back with a goal on the other end. Danish Farooq curled in an inch-perfect delivery for Mason and the lanky striker made no mistake in heading the ball into the net to level the scores. 

In the 89th minute, Tetteh scored against his old side but his goal was rightly ruled out as offside. This draw helped TRAU pick up their first point in I-League and the Manipuri team would return to action on January 4, 2020, against Punjab FC.