Michael ‘tricks Knights XI to victory in opener

Nevertheless, their persistence paid off in the ninth minute. An alert Lalchand was quick enough to wrest the ball from a Deccan defender, dribble past another and sent in a simple pass to Christy approaching from the left, who made no mistake to tap home.

A to-and-fro battle ensued, with the leaders holding the upper hand. One minute prior to lemon time, Knights increased the lead, the goal coming off a well combined move. Lalchand Parmar moving in with the ball from the right flank sent in a cross pass to Christy who took an attempt at the goal. The shot rebounded off a defender, and the loose ball was slammed home by Michael past a hapless keeper.

Returning from the breather, Knights gave nothing away while keeping the pressure on the rivals. The Deccan defenders worked overtime thwarting their moves. Forward liners Michael and Christy were at it again muffing up a couple of good chances.

Midway into the second session, in the 50th minute, Michael broke past the defence cordon from near the centre-line. In a solo effort, sprinting with the ball, he dribbled past Nimish Parikh, the Deccan XI `B’ keeper, and slammed home a grounded shot before a rival defender could reposition himself to thwart the goal.

Eight minutes later, Michael D’Cruz completed his hat-trick. Breaking past the off-side trap, Michael and Christy darted ahead. Christy’s first attempt was staved off and the loose ball was put away well by Michael.

Deccan XI pulled one back, the consolation goal coming off a penalty conversion. Nandu Mogre committed the heinous deed of handling the ball in the 18-yard box which saw referee Ambrose Anthony point to the dreaded spot. Ashwin Lokare stepped forward to put the ball past makeshift keeper Christy Robert.

Barely two minutes to the final whistle, Shakeel Shaikh netted the fifth of an opportunistic attempt. His long range aerial attempt from a near zero angle at the right flank saw the ball touch the outstretched palms of the keeper and sail into the goal.

Yellow cards were shown to Nitesh Naidu (Knights) and Madan Gokhale (Deccan XI) during the proceedings.

Today’s fixtures
3.30 p.m: Wanowrie `B’ vs SKF; 4.45 p.m: VOBA vs Sangam SC.