Punjab United Triumphs 3-2 Over VCD: Resilient 10-Man Squad Holds Lead After Thrilling First Half

Punjab United
Oct 23, 2024
3 min read

It was a successful night for Punjab as they bring home all 3 points in a 3-2 win over league leaders VCD Athletic. It was a goal fest so, here’s the run down of all the goals and all the events that happened in the game.

The game had its first moment of action following a stunning throw-in into the box by Chris Edwards which was headed into the path of Jack Hopkins, who was able to smash it home, through the goal keeper’s legs and into the back of the goal in the 12th minute!

Not even 5 minutes later, another was buried into the back of the net. Following a brilliant bending corner from Chris Edwards, the ball beautifully lands on a flying Bushell's head, who slammed it into the roof of the net, to make it 2-0 to Punjab.

Later on in the 26th minute Jack Hopkins goes in with a tackle, in a bid to regain possession. However, he miss-timed it and ended up in a 50/50 situation. Many Punjab fans would tell you that he had his eye on the ball the whole time, and even though Hopkins had no malicious intent, in the eyes of the referee it was a red card, and Hopkins game ended there.

In the 34th minute, new signing, Tarik makes an amazing run on the left, the ball firmly at his feet, the footwork is supreme, the defender is confused, Tarik capitalised and smashes it into the bottom left corner, leaving the goalkeeper for dead. 1 man down? No problem, it was now 3-0.

With 3 fantastic goals, Punjab have one of their best first half performances ever, and who better to do it against, than the league leaders.

Even though the second half was slower on the attack, we can always rely on our man behind the sticks to keep the match lively, he pulls a slick, well under-pressure Neuer esque turn, to drop the VCD player inside the 6-yard box.

There is then problems at the back and VCD capitalise as Robert Burton scores a goal in the 75th minute, much to the dismay of the Punjab fans.

With tensions rising, the quite frankly poor officiating got to the Punjab manager, who was sent off by the referee, but we all know he was still commanding the game close by.

Energy was running low deep into stoppage time, which led to a bit of a breakdown on the defence end, leading to an unlucky goal for VCD by Richard Jimoh. They were throwing everything at Punjab but could they hold on?

And breathe! What a dramatic game that was, with two sending offs, a total of 5 goals and a total of 3 points for Punjab. This match really proved what a unit Punjab United can be, VCDs defence wasn’t as tight as they wanted, and I’m sure Punjab wanted that clean sheet.