May 24: Substitute Mohamaad Shakeel's 86th minute goal broke the jinx for Mahindras as they won 2-1 against Income-Tax, a promoted side from the Senior Division, in the Gulf Lubricants Super Division WIFA Football League here at the Cooperage.Mahindras won their last match against Jagatjit Cotton Textiles in the second National Football League match at New Delhi on January 4. The much needed win came after 12 matches.Shakeel deflected home Andrew Louis' drive from top of the box for the match-winner. Louis had received a through pass from schemer Santosh Kashyap off a corner and he side-stepped a couple of I-T defenders. His powerful shot was deflected by Shakeel from inside the goal area.After a barren first-half, PK Rameshan put I-T ahead in the 56th minute after intercepting a ball from Mahindra defender Rajesh Pandey. He sprinted through the Mahindra defence and got better of them with his speed before placing the ball to his right past goalkeeper Salim Ansari.Seeing Mahindras lag behind, SSHakkim, the Mahindra coach, brought two fresh pairs of legs in the form of Manjit Singh and Sanjay Rawal. And his move paid dividends as striker PJ Jose notched the equaliser in the 66th minute following a through pass from Pandey. Jose's in-step dribble caught the I-T defence on the wrong foot and he easily placed to the right of Santosh Shinde, the I-T goalkeeper. Shinde, otherwise had a very good game as he thwarted more than half-a-dozen attacks in the first-half.Mahindras dominated the first-half as their midfielders and defenders were combining well to find spaces. Strikers Harish Sharma, Jose and R Kabui were off-target on most occasions. Most of their attacks came from the left wing as Sharma was fed enough by seasoned medio Kashyap but Sharma's crosses were not utilsed by by his team-mates.Mahindra defender AB Sahi had a chance when he dribbled past a couple of defenders and found himself one-to-one against Shinde. But I-T custodian came up with a commendable save as he advanced and thwartedSahi's strike.Mahindra's Satish Minz, an attacking medio, did tested his strength with some long rangers in the first-half. I-T had problems as their midfielders were poor in distribution. A minute before scoring the goal, Rameshan had an excellent solo run and he put a diagonal to Neil D'Costa who, however was off the mark.SS Hakim, the Mahindra coach's response to the win was a `good moral boost for the boys.' He added:``We didn't play to our potential but a win was badly needed and we have achieved it.'' The calm retired Squadron Leader from Indian Air Force, Hakim, appreciated the perfomance of I-T custodian Shinde.Harish Rao, the Mahindra team manager, also mentioned the win to be important and highlighted the unavailability of the services of Shamsi Raza. The former East Bengal striker is nursing a knee injury he received in the inaugural match against BMFC.
