Mumbai Customs Open With A Win, Edge MS Police 2-1

by Nixon Rodrigues October 19, 2014

Mumbai Customs clinched all three points in their opening fixture with a 2-1 win against MS Police in the MDFA Elite Division League played at the Cooperage Ground on Sunday 19th October 2014.

Mumbai Customs boasting some of the most talented footballers in the city seemed to have some what of an easy outing against the experienced MS Police side. Customs piled on the pressure from the very start with Deepak Irmali going close in the 8th minute. Soon after which, Mathais Coutinho then tested the MSP goalkeeper with a powerful shot, from a well timed through ball by Deepak.

The Police shook of some of this early pressure with an attack of their own in the 30th minute, when some good work by their talisman Faraz Shaikh, presented an opportunity to Moshin Khan, who took a crack at the Customs goal only to be denied by a brilliant save from Lihaz Koya.

But that wasn’t enough to put down the Customs attack, which payed dividends in the 35th minute as they broke the deadlock when an effort from Sagar Bedekar took a slight deflection off Nitin Warti to beat the goalkeeper. Customs coach Conrad Pereira was much elated with his team going into halftime with a 1 goal lead

Mumbai Customs began the 2nd half from exactly where they left off with another addition to their attack in Francisco Salin. It was Mathais Countinho again, who kept the MSP goalkeeper busy with a shot on target, after a good move by Sagar Bedekar. Customs then doubled their lead in the 51st minute, a long throw into the box from Ashirwad Hegde  was met by Mathais, who flicked it across goal. It was Nafeez who took a wild attempt in the goal melly but Gilroy Aranha made sure the ball ended in the back of the net.

Customs though, conceded a very soft goal a few minutes later. In the 65th minute, a long aerial ball from Faraz Shaikh created confusion in the Customs defense, a miscommunication  between  Gilroy Aranha and Lihaz Koya handed  striker Azhar Shaikh with an easy opportunity to get a goal back for the Police.

The goal was a little bit of a boost for MSP, with the momentum swinging their way, they came close to scoring again, Azhar Shaikh had a good effort on goal saved by Lihaz Koya.

Customs held on to win the game, although the scoreline could have been much worse for MS Police, if it had not been for the number of missed chances from the Mumbai Customs forward line but it was the 3 points that mattered the most, providing them with a good start to their campaign.