Women's football league: Manisha scores five as holders Gokulam Kerala win 12-0

Bhubaneswar, April 16 (IANS) Defending champions Gokulam Kerala FC began their defence in the Indian Women's Football League (IWL) on a thumping note, scoring a dozen goals against Odisha Police in their opening match on Saturday.

India international Manisha Kalyan led the rampage by scoring five goals, while also providing a couple of assists.

In another match on Saturday, former champions Sethu FC thrashed debutants Mata Rukmani FC 6-1 to give their campaign a rousing start.

The focus was on Gokulam Kerala and Manisha as they started their campaign on Saturday, the second day of the league.

Odisha Police began the game positively and held their defence strongly against a barrage of Gokulam Kerala attacks. However, the defending champions eventually found a breakthrough in the 17th minute via Manisha who poked the ball past goalkeeper Sanjukta Tirkey to open the scoring.

In the 24th minute, Manisha scored from close range to make it 2-0.

Immediately after the restart, Myanmar international Win Tun, with her sheer pace, rounded the Odisha Police goalkeeper to make it 3-0, handing complete charge of the game to Gokulam.

Meanwhile, Manisha went on to net her third goal at the half-hour mark from a Soumya Guguloth assist. In a quick-fire addition, Dangmei Grace scored from a tap-in before Kalyan made it 6-0 right before the half-time whistle.

Changing over, GKFC added a seventh through a Madhusmita own-goal in the 47th minute. Substitute Elshaddai put up an electric performance after coming on -- as she found the back of the goal in the 62nd minute, before unselfishly letting young sensation Karishma Shirvoikar score in the 76th minute. Ranjana Chanu, too, hopped on to score after finding the back of the net with a solo finish.

On the other hand, in red-hot form, Manisha Kalyan scored her fifth with an equally brilliant assist from Dalima Chhibber, and then Elshaddai sealed the fate of the match in the 85th minute to make it 12-0.

Sethu FC win 6-1

Earlier, in the first match of the day, Sethu Fc started well as they found the back of the net twice in the first seven minutes of the game. Elizabeth Katunga opened the scoring, followed by Indian international Anju Tamang.

Within the first quarter of the match, the former champions made their intent very clear. They continued to dominate across the field as they increased the lead in the 15th minute with a goal from Mariyammal, finishing off a move initiated by Anju.

The Madurai-based side was too dominant and their rivals struggled to control the momentum. The 4th and the 5th goals came in the 22nd and the 24th minutes respectively with Sanju and Lalrampari finding the back of the net.

Changing over, it was quite a task for Rukmani to overturn as they were 0-5 down. The debutants, however, introduced some fre'h pairs of legs but it didn't change the script much. After the hour mark, Sethu FC continued to press and their players entered the rival box almost at will. That led to their 6th goal -- Renu poking it in from close range in the 70th.

Rukmani managed to pull a consolation goal in the 79th minute with Reet Kashyap rushing in behind the Sethu defence to put it in.