Maharashtra State Police Punish Companeroes

by Prajkta Tagelly November 3, 2014

MS Police outplayed Companeroes with a 3 goal margin in an Elite Division match of the Mumbai District Football Association, played at Cooperage on Sunday.

Companeroes started well with most of the possession and attacking moves in the first quarter of the the game. In the 17th minute they had  a very good opportunity to open the scoring, when their left half Mudasir Ansari initiated a move and played a pass across to Reed Santos, who put the ball forward to Nikhil Pal for the finish but he squandered the chance as his shot went well over the bar.

Later the game took a turn as Companeroes took the back seat and  it was MSP who were in the driving position as they began to dominate the play. They come close to having the lead, when a direct long throw of Yukti Thombre was misjudged by Companeroes defender Jardin in the defence, laying the ball on a platter for MSP but Azhar Shaikh and Imran Shaikh clashed with each other as both of them went for the same ball.

Just two minutes late, another beautiful through ball by Faraz Shaikh set up Azhar for a one on one chance that was well intercepted by Companeroes goalkeeper Wren D’Abreo. MSP looked dangerous with every passing opportunity, in the 24 the minute they were unfortunate again as Nitin Warthi’s header from a corner kick taken by Faraz went straight into the hands of Wren D’Abreo.

It was the MS Police trio. Faraz Shaikh, Azhar Shaikh and Sandip Badkar who proved to be a deadly combination as they punished Companeroes for their mistakes. The cops finally went a goal up in the 41st minute though Azhar Shaikh, as he received a through ball from Sandip Badkar, this time he made no mistake to put his team in the lead.

The young Companeroes looked lost in the game and struggled to make any movement and conceded another goal late in the first half . Sandip Badkar and Faraz Shaikh’s combined effort did the trick for Police. Badkar started off with a good run from the centre and as he drew the defenders towards himself, he played the ball out towards Faraz, who sent the ball swirling into the top corner.

Second half started in entertaining fashion with Companeroes make shift striker Jardin Braganza being moved up from defence he looked menacing as he shook the MS Police backline. He began with a brilliant run towards goal after winning the ball from the Police half line but the MSP goalkeeper did well to block of Jardin’s attempt.

Another chance to get back into game went wasted, when an aerial ball from the right flank by Nikhil Pal was headed back across goal by  Mudasir Ansari it was Jardin again who latched onto the ball but his attempted header was over the bar.

Maharashta Police tried to relieve the pressure as they kept penetrating the Companeroes defence at regular intervals. Companeroes final attempt to reduce the margin came in the 73rd minute, when a through ball by Daniel D’souza opened up play for Aniket Shigvan but MS Police defender Jitesh Pardhi impeaded him earning himself a yellow card in the process and awarding a free kick to Companeroes right outside the box. With Reed Santos standing over the free kick, the expectation was that he would repeat the same feat as he did with a free kick against Dena Bank but this time it wasn’t to be, as he fired the ball straight into the MSP wall.

MS Police were still in a position to get more goals and that exactly happened in the 86th minute when the same 3 man combination worked for the Policemen. A throw in by Badkar towards Faraz was headed back to him and Badkar put in a pin point cross from the right flank that was tapped in by Azhar for his 2nd and the team’s 3rd goal.