Little Master clinch title

JJ Welfare Centre paid a heavy price for a goalmouth blunder by their custodian, few minutes from the final whistle, as Little Master clinched the Mumbai District Football Association MDFA Division V title on Sunday with a 1-0 win at the St Xavier8217;s ground in Parel. Devendra Parab proved to be the hero for the champions as he found himself perfectly placed to net in the winner. Both teams will now be promoted to Division IV for the next season, and will have to brace themselves for tougher competition there.

The final failed to live up to the expectations as both teams seemed too content on defence, and once the Colaba outfit broke the deadlock, JJ Welfare had a tall-order to overcome, which they failed to do in the end. Match-winner Parab, who himself hails from Panvel, said that his young teammates come from different parts of the city, and practice at Colaba. 8220;Our goal is to one day play in the Elite Division,8221; he said.

The third-fourth playoff encounter between Kingfisher Airlines and Sealiners proved to be much more entertaining as the former won 3-2 in what proved to be a nail-biting contest. Savio Nayak opened the scoring for Kingfisher, before Rupesh More gave his team a 2-0 lead. But Clectus Ebnezer brought Sealiners right back into the game with a fantastic goal. A defensive folly then led to Savio Nayak winning a penalty, which he converted easily.