As the round of 22 began on Wednesday night, Taphou Football Club, on the spur of the moment, thrashed contender Real Friends' United (RFU) Kangpokpi to become the first team to reach the quarterfinal round of the ongoing Kuki Football Academy's Open Night Football Tournament.
Dominated by many promising young footballers from Kangpokpi town, the debutant RFU Kangpokpi was the favorite to lift the premier tournament champion trophy despite losing 1-2 to Taphou FC in the Round of 22.
Though, Taphou FC has no key players to mention it has the experience to tumbled down a team like RFU led by former ISL player Boithang Haokip following their participation in the tournament since its first edition.
Taphou FC despite strong domination of the game by RFU, managed to find an opener at an early minute when its captain Sehthang strike home in the 5th minute and lead the game till Boithang Haokip found the equalizer for RFU Kangpokpi in the 32nd minute before halftime.
Taphou FC had a brilliant comeback in the second half as Thangkhanlal found the winning goal in the 51st-minute and the contender RFU Kangpokpi lost the game 1-2 while giving Taphou FC got the first spot in the Quarterfinal round.
In the second match, SMT Haipi had a 2-1 win over SMT Pangjang to become the second team to find a spot in the quarterfinals round. Lhungousem (24th) and Thangmawi (65th) scored for Haipi's side.
In the third match, Twilang Area Sporting Club (TASA) had an easy 6-2 win over Young Gun's Haipi to book the third spot in the quarterfinals round. Lalkhanlen (5th, 47th, 55th, 70th), Donggouthang (13th) and Songpu (23rd) scored for TASA while Hemchon (61st) and Tinhao (73rd) scored for Young Gun's Haipi.
