Karishma Shirvoikar is on a roll. So are Kickstart FC, who rode on her goal-scoring abilities to clinch their third win in a row in the 2023-24 Indian Women’s League season on Thursday.
With the 2-1 win over Sports Odisha, Kickstart FC now have nine points from three matches, which puts them at the top of the table. Sports Odisha, on the other hand, have lost all three matches so far.
But then, Sports Odisha didn’t go down without a fight. Despite conceding early, they made every effort to hit back and were even able to level the score at one point. But with limited abilities and attacking options, the losing side had to leave the pitch empty-handed.
Kickstart FC gained immensely because of the presence of Shirvoikar, who is proving to be a prolific scorer. She had earlier scored a hat-trick against East Bengal in the previous match and on Thursday, she started from where she left off the other day.
By scoring two goals today, she has taken her tally of goals to seven, the highest in the current season so far.
With her hair held up in an elegant chignon, Shirvoikar displayed fine skills when she struck the first goal in the 13th minute by making her way smoothly past the Sports Odisha defence. Goalkeeper Spandita Das could have been more alert when the ball beat her to find the net, but that doesn’t take the credit away from Shirvoikar.
Sports Odisha made a brief comeback when they equalised in the 27th minute. Their forward Subhadra Sahoo was fouled inside the box by Aruna Bag and Rashmi Kumari Ghising made no mistake from the resultant spot kick.
However, it took Kickstart only six minutes to regain the lead, something they managed to protect till the end. Shirvoikar was once again on target, this time from a deft low header after Munic Minz outwitted a defender to cross the ball at the goalmouth.
In the second half, Sports Odisha made some genuine efforts to erase the difference, but it was of no avail.