IWL: Gokulam Kerala FC run riot against Kenkre FC

Gokulam Kerala FC ran riot in their Indian Women's League fixture against Kenkre FC, registering a gargantuan 10-1 victory at the Bangalore football stadium here on Tuesday.

Gokulam's Nepali striker Sabitra Bhandari was the star of the show, as she scored five goals. Karishma Shirvoikar notched-up a hat-trick for herself, while Manisha netted two to make it 10 for the Kerala side.

Kenkre couldn't get any foothold in the game as their Kerala counterparts completely blew them away and raced to a 7-1 lead going into half-time.

Gokulam opened the scoring in the seventh minute when a Sabitra effort was initially saved by Kenkre keeper Monika Devi, but the rebound fell to Karishma, who made no mistake to draw first blood.

Bhandari continued to be the fulcrum of Gokulam's attack, running circles around the Kenkre defence as they failed to find an answer. She linked up beautifully with Karishma throughout the game, forging a formidable partnership and scoring an astounding eight goals between them. Just like she had created Karishma's opener, the young forward returned the favour by setting her up minutes later in the 17th minute.

The goal of the game was scored by Manisha in the 30th minute, when her left-footed curler left everyone astounded, including the keeper, who was left rooted to the spot.

Bhandari completed her hat-trick in the first-half stoppage time and added a further two in the second half. The Nepal international narrowly missed out on a double hat-trick, but beautifully set up Karishma for her to wrap-up her three-goal haul.

Kenkre's defence looked clueless throughout the game, with their only consolation, if any, coming through skipper Soumya Guguloti's beautiful solo effort in the 35th minute, but the headline had already been drafted.