Rahul, YC enter quarters

The long passing tactics aided by some accurate tries at the rival goal by Rahul kept the Range Hills defence and the keeper Avinash always on alert.Range Hills who are known for their short passing with Gopi Shanumugam doing most of the spadework did take some time to settle down, but it was too late when they really came into their own for them to bow out of the championship with a 1-2 verdict.

Their keeper Avinash Samundra, but for the first goal he conceded played well with his fine anticipation and reflexes.

It was in the 14th minute the first goal of the day was scored. Rahul’s midfielder Deepankar Basu after dribbling past two defenders centered the ball, but Range Hills keeper Avinash who had nobody charging on him did reach out for the ball well but the object slipped out off his hands into the net.

With three minutes to go for the interval, Rahul made it 2-0 when Rajesh Sutar beat Avinash under the Range Hills bar with a first timer.

The Range Hills were all over the rival goal after the breather, but again here none of them were able to have a shy at the target. The frustrated Rahul could do nothing but opt to rough play. And referee Simon D’Gama did not let them get away with them. He first warned two of the players verbally, but when Gopal Talreja brought down Gopi he had to use the yellow card.

Simon D’Gama who was just a spectator in the Shivajians’ and Old Boys Association’s match when there was infringement made amends to his error today, when Gopi Shanumugam’s power packed right-footer was handled by Lakhan and rightly awarded a spot kick for Range Hills, and Avinash Balan made no mistake with it. This happened in the 60th minute of play.

The goal put the Rahul defence on red alert, but the cross-piece and the aimless shooting by the Range Hills saw them bid farewell with a 1-2 verdict.Defensive lapses by Ranjeet Mahanthu saw the Chetak sports club fall into arrears. His valiant bid to get the ball away only managed to get his hand in between and referee Simon awarded the spot kick and Anand Rawat scored the same in the 48th minute of play.

And in the 62nd minute, Suhas Kanekar levelled the score for Chetak.In the tie-breaker, Rajesh Bisht, Ramesh Gopal, Vinod Singh and Anand Rawat scored for Youth club while, only Vijay Deshmukh and Suhas Kanekar were successful for Chetak.