Indian Premier Futsal League 2017: Telugu Tigers Make Late Charge with Win

Telugu Tigers made a last-ditch run to second in the 2017 Indian Premier Futsal League standings after beating Bengaluru Royals 3-2 to climb within a point of overall leaders Delhi Dragons.

In a duel between the wooden-spoon contenders, Chennai Singhams clinched a 5-4 win over Kerala Cobras to snatch their first victory of the regular season at the final opportunity.

Former Brazil international Deco led the Tigers to a slim win against the Royals, thanks to strikes from Luis Gonzalez, Anupam Vishwakarma and a Raducio King own goal despite Bengaluru having the majority of the chances.

Chennai edged a more prolific affair against Kerala, where Argentinian ace Hernan Crespo was among the scorers as the Signhams made a last-ditch effort to finish anywhere other than the bottom of the league.

Read on for a roundup of Saturday's Premier Futsal League results and a recap of the day's highlights.

Saturday's Results

Chennai Singhams 5-4 Kerala Cobras

Telugu Tigers 3-2 Bengaluru Royals

For the full standings and the schedule, visit the Premier Futsal League's official website.

Recap

Telugu talisman Gonzalez forced an own goal out of the Royals after 20 minutes of their clash, a result that would decide which of these two teams finished closest to the league-leading Dragons.

The goals continued to fall after a scoreless opening period, and Anupam notched a second for the Tigers before back-to-back replies from Jonathan Silva in the 30th minute saw Bengaluru draw level at two apiece.

Manchester United legend Paul Scholes couldn't lift the Royals to a result, though, as Raducio turned the ball into his own net with just seconds remaining to allow Telugu to steal into second spot in the final weekend of the normal season.

Crespo and Deco were both present for fixtures at the Koramangala Indoor Stadium in Bengaluru this weekend, and the former took to Twitter to celebrate reuniting with his fellow Chelsea alumnus:

And just as Deco was successful in his Saturday clash, Crespo aided the Singhams in taking their first win of the Premier Futsal League term and equalised from an early Phan Chi opener to keep the score at 1-1 after the first quarter.

The Cobras scored through four players and led 4-3 deep in the third quarter only for Maico Monteiro's second of the evening to win it late on and lift Chennai off the bottom of the table.