Railways began the match with poise, and before left-sided midfielder Sathish hobbled off in the 15th minute with a hamstring injury, came close twice — Sathish shot narrowly over from distance, and Manipur keeper Basant Singh closed down alertly to deny striker Amrinder Singh.
At the other end, Manipur’s front four, nimble on the ball and mobile off it, was beginning to make the Railways defence look ponderous.
Striker Subash Singh broke clear of the defence only to be denied by a superlative sliding challenge from right back Subir Maji. It didn’t take long for Subash to get another chance, and he found the net in the 19th minute with a sweetly-struck left-footer after bursting unchecked into the box.
Railways coach V. Sounderarajan replied by moving midfielder Rajesh up-front — a change that necessitated Subir Maji moving into midfield, and Amrinder having to fill the vacated right-back slot.
With Subir lacking the calm distribution of Rajesh, Railways found itself ceding possession repeatedly, and ended up with playmaker Mehtab Hussain dropping deeper and deeper to try and win the ball, creating a massive chasm between midfield and attack.
Manipur doubled its lead in the 40th minute through Reisangmi Vasum, who stretched athletically and stabbed home with the outside of his boot after a powerful Subash shot rebounded into the six-yard box off keeper Ehtesham Ahmed’s palms. The winger scored his second in the 79th minute, nodding into an empty net after a shot from striker Joychandra Singh bounced down and back into play off the crossbar.
Two minutes later, Nalandar Chakravarthy pulled back a consolation goal for Railways with a penalty, after Basant brought down Vimal Pariyar as the striker chased down a through-ball from Rajesh.
The result: Manipur 3 (Subash Singh (19); Reisangmi Vasum (40, 79) bt Railways 1 (Nalandar Chakravarthy 81).