Prayag United notched up 5 goals against Dereck Pereira’s Pune FC at the Salt Lake stadium who could score only 1 in reply in the fourth round of the I-league.

Joshimar da Silva scored a hat-trick with the other two goals for Prayag United scored by Kayne Vincent and the captain Lalkamal Bhowmick. The only goal for Pune FC was scored by Arata Izumi.

With Yakubu still missing, Sanjoy Sen decided to start with the forward pairing of Kayne Vincent and Josimar da Silva Martins to deliver the goods. Dereck Pereira meanwhile had to reshuffle his defense with Chika Wali missing. In his place came in Caitano Costa to partner Anas Edathodika in central defense. Shanmugam Venkatesh and Othallo Tabia also got starts. There were two changes for Prayag United from their draw against Churchill was the lively Snehashish Dutta starting instead of L James Singh on the left side of midfield, and Somnath Khara starting as the Prayag United custodian.

The match started off amidst loud cheers from Prayag United supporters who flocked to the Salt Lake stadium to see their side record their first win in the ongoing I-league.

Before the teams had time to settle down, the home team captain, Lalkamal Bhowmick pounced on a loose ball after a hashed clearance by Pune FC defenders, and let rip a fierce shot which went past the despairing dive of  Shahinlal Meloly.1-0 Prayag United and only seven minutes had passed.

Pune FC failed to control the midfield with Denson and Lalkamal dictating play with precise passes for the Home team. It was from a relatively innocuous position that Joshimar made it 2-0 in the 17^th minute off a Kayne Vincent pass. However it was poor defending from Othallo Tabia which allowed Joshimar to score.

Pune FC gradually seized control of the game winning a couple of corners in the process. The Prayag FC goalkeeper looked shaky , coming out of his line and failed to clear on atleast two chances but the Prayag defenders cleared on both the occasions.

It was Pune FC’s goalkeeper to show his inexperience now as a delightful Lalkamal through ball found a free Vincent, and it was a last ditch challenge from Shahinlal just outside the box, bringing Vincent down, earning him a Yellow card but saving a certain goal. A red card would be harsh as Vincent was clearly going away from goal.  The subsequent free kick was weak from Denson.

Pune FC cut the deficiency to 1 very quickly, with Izumi Arata allowed to roam free in the midfield and allowed to line up his shot and score in the twenty-ninth minute, even though Somnath got a hand to it and should have ideally saved it.

As Prayag decided to sit back, Pune FC looked to be in perfect control and a Costa miss from a corner and a chip from Venkatesh which almost went in, meant Pune were on the comeback trail.

At the dying end of the First Half, Prayag could have got another one but Snehasish misses  from a Gouranga Biswas cross who came on for the injured Shylo Tulunga.

The second half started as the first half finished with Pune FC in control but the first chance fell to Vincent whose shot from outside the box was saved by Shahinlal. However all the good work by Pune FC was undone as Joshimar was again left clean through from a hopeful long ball by Denson and a chip past the onrushing Shahinlal meant Prayag were three up in the fifty-sixth minute.

From then on it was all Prayag and the introduction of Maninder and Lester did nothing to improve the situation. Credit was due to the central defence pairing of Bello and Arnab who kept the dangerous Jeje and Subhash surprisingly quiet.

From a foul on Joshimar, Bello hoofed up a freekick into the box in the seventy-sixth minute. Vincent surrounded by three Pune defenders, went past one, and got a lucky deflection off the lef of Costa which allowed him to make it 4 for Prayag, from an absolutely nothing situation.

In the seventy-ninth minute, Joshimar was again clean through and a hasty clearance from Shahinlal again where the ball bounced off Joshimar, meant Joshimar scoring a hattrick for Prayag in front of an open net. Shahinlal as well as the slack defending had to take blame for the goal.

By this time, the fight was almost driven out of Pune FC with the duo of Lalkamal and Devdas controlling play aka Pune FC in the first half.  Maninder and Jeje both scuffed shots in the dying minutes of the second half but it would be nothing more than mere consolation.

A tremendous second half performance from the Home Team after it was certain that Pune FC were on the comeback trail by them dominating the game at the end of the second half. However, Pune FC really missed the calming presence of India Goalkeeper, Subrata Pal as his replacement looked to be a nervous wreck under the bars, his mistakes costing the Pune side dearly.