Bhubaneswar, Apr 16: Sreebhumi FC ended the defending champions, Odisha FC’s time in the Indian Women’s League (IWL) with a 3-0 victory at the Kalinga Stadium that condemned the hosts to relegation.

Odisha needed to eke out a result to even stand a chance at staying up, and within the first half an hour their fate was sealed, courtesy of a Nongmeikapam Shibani Devi (10’, 18’, 32’) hat-trick.

This was perhaps the most brutal and clear reminder that time, and football waits for no one. This was the first time in Indian football that the defending champions of a league have been relegated. Despite the abjectly one-sided scoreline, it was Odisha who actually looked in the ascendancy in the first 10 minutes of the game, marshalling the ball neatly in midfield.

In the 10th minute, though, Sreebhumi’s scoring spree kicked off when Shibani picked up Anita Kumari’s cross outside the box and unleashed a right-footer towards the goal. The shot took a deflection before nestling in the back of the net.

A double hammer-blow in the 18th and 32nd minute effectively finished off the game and Odisha’s chances of survival. For her second, Shibani displayed an unteachable poacher’s instinct to sneak in at the back post and volley in Anita’s cross from inside the six-yard box.

The third goal came off a massive error at the back for Odisha FC. The combination of the first defender and goalkeeper failed to deal with a routine cross from the right, the latter spilling it loose inside the six-yard box. Shibani duly tapped it in.

Odisha FC’s performance improved significantly in the second half, and they came close to cutting the deficit, mostly through a series of set-pieces. Sreebhumi weren’t sitting back either, and Bala Devi was perhaps guilty of missing a gilt-edged chance that would’ve definitively put them away. In the end, it didn’t matter as Sreebhumi pocketed the points and condemned the hosts to an ignominious relegation.

Odisha FC was established in 2019 in partnership with the Odisha government and has quickly made their mark in Indian football. The men's team clinched the 2023 Indian Super Cup, qualifying for the AFC Cup 2023-24. The women's team, formed just two years ago, won the IWL 2023-24, securing a spot in the AFC Women's Champions League.

(IANS)

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