Union Bank score over C Railway

The other successful soothsayer was Vaz’s counterpart, Anand Puthran, in his first year with the bank. Acknowledging that his team was the underdog in the league, Puthran had taken heart that UBI were known to cause a few `upsets.’ No another adjective could befit today’s proceedings better.

Surely, neither coach would have expected the plot to unfold so true to foresight. The Railwaymen were in full strength, but for the reassuring presence of Jersey No 1 — Raghuveer Khanolkar — under the bar. Khanolkar, in fact, was in the stands, here on a two-day sojourn from Goa, where he will represent Salgaocar this season.

In fact, there was talk of his transfer creating rumbles in the Central Railway dressing room. The players were reportedly sulking at the Railways bigwigs for releasing Khanolkar, in effect throwing their goal wide open for opposite marauders to plunder. Why then should we put our hearts to the task was the players’ refrain.

The sullen mood was evident on the field, as eleven Railwaymen were made to look clumsy, slow and generally, second best. Every one-one confrontation, you could predict that Union Bank would win. When two rivals chased a ball, you could put your precious silver on the Union Bank guy.

This is not to take away from UBI’s effort. On a turf churned to paste by scores of trampling feet, the bankmen came up with the winning formula — make progress along the flanks. Dhirendra Singh tirelessly ploughed the left flank, while Lance Fonseca, the Mithibai College captain and second-highest scorer in the university league last year, made incisive runs on the right.

The first goal came from the right, as Steven Dias overlapped and crossed to Lance Fonseca. Fonseca scored after the hapless Mascarenhas fumbled.

A one-goal deficit is tolerable, but down by two can be a psychological pink slip. Mascarenhas misjudged a harmless Dhirendra Singh floater from near the left flag, which, to his chagrin, dipped in. To say the least, his jaw fell.

Lance Fonseca and Supreet Jathana, who looked like scoring every time they made progress, almost scored when Fonseca’s chip had beaten Mascarenhas. Jathana, who tapped it in, was declared off-side. A minute later (80th), Jathana made amends by pouncing on a goal-line melee after Fonseca’s run saw Mascarenhas commit early.

Central’s only chance came through a free-kick in the second half. Custodian Nadeem Ansari fumbled with Shanta Kumar’s 25-yarder, and Adil Ansari seemed to have put the rebound away, but Union Bank managed a goal-line save.

REDEMPTION SONG: The second match, between the two elevated teams, was redemption time. MS Police had been swamped in their first two ties, 0-7 and 2-5; Fr Agnel had lost 1-2 and 0-5. Both were seeking to get off the blocks.

Police had that honour, from a 13th minute penalty kick after Abdul Abid was brought down by Ashwin Martins inside the box. Fr Agnel’s attempts to draw level, the best efforts coming through free-kicks, were in vain. The match turned scrappy, as seven yellow cards and two red cards (Eusebio Mascarenhas of Fr Agnel, Kevin Joseph of Police) were flashed.