Match Report
In the standings it was Minerva Punjab 3rd on 5 points, Abahani 1st on 13 — separated by 8. On recent form Minerva Punjab sat only 28th league-wide over the last five rounds, well short of their 3rd overall. In league terms the two rates read 1/1.17 for Minerva Punjab and 2/0.83 for Abahani (scored/conceded per game); the competition average is 1.59.
Minerva Punjab's last four games had all finished level. Abahani arrived on a run of three straight wins. The last-five ledger: Minerva Punjab 4/15, Abahani 10/15.
The match was played at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar (capacity 5,000). J. Iida took charge of the match — our records show 96 games refereed with an average of 1.3 yellow cards per game. It was 0-0 at the break, and the second half added 1 goal for the 0-1 full-time score.