Fergusson to lock horns with Symbiosis

Fergusson began attacking from the initial minutes and missed a chance to take the lead in the second minute, off an attempted header. However, they drew first blood in the seventh minute when their front-line player Shyam Shingh latched on to a fine pass outside the box, dribbled past a couple of defenders and punched the ball in over the goal-keeper.

MIT did not lag behind as they equalised in the very next minute. A freekick taken a few feet outside the 18-yard box by Shisir Shroff saw the ball curl in past a flumoxed Dinesh — the Fergusson goal-keeper.

An accurate flag-kick taken by MIT’s Rakesh Bidkar in the 24th minute was easily tapped in by Raghunandan Chaure into the far end of the net, to put MIT ahead. However, their joy was shortlived as Fergusson drew even in the very next minute. In a melee that ensued at the MIT goalmouth, Shyam Shingh pounced onto a loose ball and easilly placed it to the right of the MIT custodian Ashwin Gambhir.

With both teams locked at two goals apiece, MIT went into the second-half in search of the lead, but had several chances go abegging. Towards the fag end Fergusson found the match-winner off Kuldeep Bagve who collected an overhead pass and booted the ball past keeper Ashwin. Nilesh Natoo was shown the yellow card by referee M.S Rawat for foul language.

Later in the second semi-final Symbiosis College for Arts and Commerce booked an appointment with Fergusson College, with a hard earned 2-1 win over Vidya Bhavan.

A tough encounter was witnessed all along. Alistair Mendonca put Symbiosis ahead in the fifth minute with a fine volley which beat their opponents custodian to his left. After a string of missed chances by both teams Ameet Uchil succeeded in adding to the tally with a cracking shot from just within the 18-yard box which went past an outstretched custodian.

Micheal Vaz reduced the margin for the losers in the 41st minute.