AFC Women's Club Championship: Gokulam Kerala fails against Shahrdari Sirjan

Gokulam Kerala FC was kicked out of the AFC Women's Club Championship 2021. She secured her victory by defeating 1-0 Shahrdari Sirjan of Iran. The match took place at the Aqaba Development Corporate Stadium in Aqaba, Jordan on Wednesday evening.

After going down to Amman Club in their opening fixture, the clash against Sirjan was a must-win for the Malabarians. Gokulam dominated proceedings in the first half.

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However, things took a U-turn at the hour mark as goalkeeper Aditi Chauhan went off for a challenge on Zahra Alizadeh. Afsaneh Chatrenoor's 68th-minute free-kick goal made all the difference as the three points went the way of the Iranian side.

Gulam Kerala started positively:

Gulam Kerala started well, better than we saw in the previous match. However, Coach Priya PV made one change to the side, replacing forward Soumya Guguloth with Puerto Rican midfielder Adriana Tirado.

Gokulam quickly took charge of the proceedings. Thereafter she came close early on through Manisha Kalyan's header. Sirjan goalkeeper saved it.

There was a moment of controversy in the 37th minute. A shot from Ghanaian striker Elshaddai Acheampong struck the arm of Sirjan defender Hadis Basatshir. But the VAR deemed it to be unintentional and Gokulam didn't recieve any plenty award.

Aditi Chauhan's red card molded the match

The Malabarians must have hoped to continue piling the pressure and break the deadlock in the second half. However, captain Aditi Chauhan sent off for a reckless challenge on Zahra Alizadeh.

The former West Ham goalkeeper went flying into the Iranian forward outside the box and ended up kneeing her head. ButThe match stopped for a few minutes as Alizadeh had to go to hospital.