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Bengaluru: M Daniyal scored one and set up another as South United FC overcame a rusty start to open their KSFA Super Division campaign with a convincing 4-0 win over Parikrma FC at the Bangalore Football Stadium on Thursday.

The opening day of the season saw a surprise result as defending champions Kickstart FC were held to a goalless draw by newly-promoted Stride FC. The last match of the day saw new Indian Football League side FC Bengaluru United post a 2-0 victory over Roots FS with Jacob Vanlalhimpuia scoring a stunning freekick early in the 12th minute. Ribhav Sardesai sealed the victory with a 90th-minute strike. However, Daniyal was the star performer of the day as the Manipuri forward first set up team-mate T Radhakanta Singh for the breakthrough in the 45th minute before finding the net himself in the 62nd. Altab Hussain and substitute Prajwal Gowda then struck in the final 10 minutes to turn what had been a hard-fought contest for much of the evening into a rout. Playing their first competitive match of the season, South United struggled for fluency early on as a compact Parikrma defence kept them at bay. The resistance was finally broken just before half-time when Daniyal was quick to spot Radhakanta with space on the left of the box following a counter and slided the ball nicely to him for a first-time finish. Daniyal doubled the advantage in the 62nd minute after defender Rinshid V surged forward on a fine solo run before finding the forward, who drove a low finish past goalkeeper Shikku S. With Parikrma pushing forward in search of a way back, South United found more spaces to exploit. Altab made it 3-0 from a counter-attack in the 80th minute before Gowda rounded off the scoring eight minutes later, finishing a slick move created by Abhiram. For Daniyal, the goal and assist also provided an encouraging start to a season in which he hopes to improve on his tally of 13 or 14 goals from the previous campaign. "Last season I scored around 13 or 14 goals and, I want to score more this season," said Daniyal, who hails from Manipur's Thoubal district. Results: Kickstart FC: 0 drew with Stride FC: 0; South United FC: 4 (Thingnam Radhakanta Singh 45th, Makamayum Daniyal 62nd, MD Altab Hussain 80th, Prajwal Gowda 88th) bt Parikrma FC: 0; FC Bengaluru United: 2 (Jacob Vanlalhimpuia 12th, Ribhav Sardesai 90th) bt Roots FC: 0.