IWL 2020: Sabitra Bhandari Scores 5, Karishma Shirvoikar Bags Hat-trick as Gokulam Kerala FC Smash Kenkre FC

Bengaluru: Gokulam Kerala FC ran rout in their Indian Women's League (IWL) 2019-20 fixture against Kenkre FC on Tuesday, January 28, at the Bangalore Football Stadium as they registered a massive 10-1 victory.

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

Kenkre couldn't get any foothold in the game as Gokulam Kerala dominated from the word go and raced to a 7-1 lead in the first 45 minutes of play.

Gokulam opened the scoring in the 7th minute when a Sabitra's effort was initially saved by Kenkre keeper Monika Devi but as the rebound fell to Karishma, she made no mistake in finding the back of the net.

Sabitra 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 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 stranded to the spot.

Bhandari completed her hat-trick in the stoppage time of the first half 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 towards the end to help her get the hat-trick.

Kenkre's defence looked clueless throughout the game, with their only consolation coming through skipper Soumya Guguloti's beautiful solo effort in the 35th minute.

Gokulam Kerala FC now lead the Group B table with six points from two games and a goal difference of 10. Gokulam had edged out Sreebhumi FC 1-0 in their tournament opener.

DAY 4 RESULTS:

MATCH 7: BBK DAV FC 1-1 FC Kolhapur City (Madhu Bala - Lhingneilam Kipgen)

MATCH 8: Kickstart FC 1-0 Baroda FA (Mona)

DAY 3 RESULTS:

MATCH 5: Bangalore United FC 2-1 Bidesh XI SC

MATCH 6: Gokulam Kerala FC 1-0 Sreebhumi FC

DAY 2 RESULTS

MATCH 3: Kenkre FC 4-1 Odisha Police

MATCH 4: Baroda FA 3-0 BBK DAV FC

DAY 1 RESULTS

MATCH 1: Krysphsa 4-0 Kickstart FC

MATCH 2: Sethu FC 5-0 FC Kolhapur City