In spite of a valiant effort, the young Hyderabad FC side were knocked out of the Durand Cup after their 2-1 loss to services side Army Red football team at the Salt Lake Stadium on Sunday.
Going into the game needing a win, Shameel Chembakath's side started the game with confidence but went a goal down to Liton Shil's strike (33') at the half-hour mark. But the resilient youngsters made sure they restored parity just a couple of minutes later as Koustav Dutta (35') pulled out a long ranger and found the bottom corner to bring us back into the game.
The game swayed around with some end-to-end action early in the second half but it was Liton Shil (70') again who finished another well-worked move to give back Army Red their one-goal lead.
Lalbiakhlua Jongte pulled off some smart saves to keep his side in the game till the end, but the young guns from Hyderabad struggled to find a breakthrough as their campaign ended in heartbreak.
The result meant Hyderabad FC (3 pts) finished third in the points table, with one win in three games while Gokulam Kerala (7 pts) and Army Red (7 pts) qualified to the knockout stages of the competition from Group D.
( With inputs from ANI )
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