Naidu snatches equaliser

As always,Wednesday's Elite division football matches saw t he stands of the University football ground being sparsely populated with die-hard football fans and football players.

As always,Wednesday’s Elite division football matches saw t he stands of the University football ground being sparsely populated with die-hard football fans and football players. In an otherwise solemn atmosphere with the harsh afternoon sun shining down on the players of the Western Railways and the Mumbai Customs teams,a group of individuals broke the monotonous silence with constant shouts of ‘Sisco’ in an attempt to cheer their friend and Customs striker Fransisco Salian. When he did eventually score what seemed to be the winner late-on,they erupted into cheer. There were however,to be silenced in the last ten minutes when the Railways team in their usual fashion stole a late equaliser through Ravikant Naidu.

Railways had the better of the exchanges early on and also the lion’s share of possession. Vijish Vijayan remained a tough nut to crack in defence and gave his midfielders a chance to pass the ball around with ease. Binoop K obliged and orchestrated a number of moves to trouble the rival defence but the strikers lacked composure in front of goal. Bombay Custom’s attacks were few and far between and hardle troubled the Railways defence. Both defences remained strong and the first half ended without score.

Railways started the second half from where they left off and they peppered the opposition defence with attacks. Customs absorbed the pressure and continued to play on the counter. Their first such attack,completely against the run of play,resulted in them taking the all-important lead. A pin-pointed cross from the left-flank in the 53rd minute fell straight to the feet of Salian,who slotted the ball home with ease. Customs started playing with a little more confidence after the goal and strung a few good passes together. The Railways were dealt with another severe blow when they lost their defender Vijayan to a knee injury. Western turned on the screws in the last 15 minutes and created quite a few chances. In the 78th minute,Gurunath Reddy provided Naidu with a good chance but his effort from the right was saved by Customs goalkeeper Lihas Koya.

However,three minutes later,Naidu from another opportunity made no such mistake as he coolly placed the ball to the right of rival keeper Lihas Koya into the far corner to bring relief for his team and ensure that they didn’t go back empty handed.

Results: Super Division: Bank of India 3 (Srikant Veramulu 2,Sagar Bedekar) beat Dena Bank 0. Elite Division: Western Railway 1 (Ravikant Naidu) drew with Mumbai Customs 1 (Francisco Salian).

Maratha Utd no match for Sebastian Boys

Maratha United proved no match for St Sebastian Boys as they went down tamely 6-1 in a MDFA Div-II league match,played at the St Xaviers ground Parel,on Wednesday.

Unable to match the performance of their rivals and put up soild compact defence,Maratha United conceded goal at regular intervals to succumb to a huge defeat. Rohan Bast and Oscar Nunes with two goals each did the bulk of the scoring for the winners while Cliff Samuel and Carlton DMello chipped with one apiece. For Maratha United the lone consolation goal was scored by Joel T.

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Earlier,Vailankanni Boys blanked Los Galosticos 2-0 in a Div-III encounter. Adrian Fernandes and Dean Pereira were on target for the victors.

Results: Div-III: Vailankanni Boys 2 (Adrian Fernandes,Dean Pereira) beat Los Galosticos 0. DIV-II: St Sebastian Boys 6 (Rohan Bast 2,Oscar Nunes 2,Cliff Samuel,Carlton DMello) beat Maratha United 1 (Joel T).

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