Her hattrick hands them a 6-0 win over Bhutan and book final date with Bangladesh
Panaji: Goa’s Pearl Fernandes netted a hattrick to seal Indian U-17 women’s team an 8-0 win over Bhutan in their final round-robin fixture of the SAFF U-19 Women’s Championship at the Pokhara Rangasala Stadium on Wednesday.
Pearl Fernandes (16’, 39’, 41’) scored a first-half hat-trick, while Pritika Barman (25’, 90’) got one goal in each half. Alisha Lyngdoh (6’), Abhista Basnett (10’), and Divyani Linda (17’) netted one apiece.
The Young Tigresses have, with this result, secured themselves a spot in the SAFF U19 Women’s Championship final.
From the very outset, Bhutan were no match for the Pamela Conti-coached Young Tigresses. Alisha Lyngdoh put them ahead in the sixth minute, which was just out of Bhutan goalkeeper reach. The lead was doubled by Abhista just a few minutes later, when Pritika, cut one back for the former to tap in.
Just beyond the quarter-hour mark, Thandamoni Baskey released Pearl through a slick through-pass that put the latter behind a Bhutan defence. Pearl beat Sonam with ease to score India’s third.
A minute later, Divyani made it four when she surged forward from the right and slotted it in at the near post.
Pritika scored the fifth in the 25th minute when she entered the Nepal box from the right and netted at the far post. In the
38th minute, Pritika turned provider, supplying a low cross to Pearl, who scored into a gaping net.
A couple of minutes later, Pearl completed her hat-trick, tapping the ball in from close range.
