Determined Kenkre edge spirited PIFA Sports to record maiden win

by Kaushal Shukla December 4, 2015

Kenkre FC edged PIFA Sports 1-0 in the Maharashtra zone encounter of the U-15 Youth League at Cooperage on Friday evening. Both teams had their moments in the game, but in the end the winning goal fell to Kenkre as they grabbed the three points.

After a even start to the match PIFA Colaba were rocked with an injury to Raunak Pawar who had to be replaced by Sahil More in the 12th minute.

Kenkre were showing great skill in building up their attacks but were failing to deliver the final ball until the 20th minute when Krish Adhikari sent a clever threaded pass through to Shivanarayan Gupta, but the PIFA goalkeeper Maneet Malhotra read the danger well and denied Gupta the opening goal.

However PIFA goalkeeper Malhotra made an error five minutes later when a miskick saw the ball to substitute Sahil More who drove into space on the right flank to set up Krish Adhikari who failed to apply the finishing touch.

PIFA strongly came into the game in the latter part of the first half and came close to take the lead from Arshad Ashraf’s long range effort which sailed over.

Kenkre were given a scare in the 43rd minute, when Ranjan Tamang’s shot from the edge of the box hit Arshad Arshaf’s foot to take a wicked deflection and rolled just wide of the goal.

It was the last piece of action in an intense half of football which finished goalless as the second half was nicely set up.

Kenkre FC had to weather an early PIFA spell of possession as the boys in orange made a positive start to the second half.

In the 55th minute, PIFA got behind the Kenkre FC defence when Ranjan Tamanng latched onto a lofted pass to race clear on the left, but his shot after cutting in on his right foot went harmlessly over.

But Kenkre FC soon regained control of the game and should have taken the lead in the 61st minute when Jay Bhavnani miss timed his header as he tried to head home a Siddhu Pawar cross after a sweeping Kenkre FC move.

Kenkre’s Nathan De Rosario couldn’t believe he didn’t score seven minutes when his dipping effort was heroically kept out by PIFA’s Akash Jadhav who cleared off the line.

But there was no denying Kenkre in the 72nd minute, when Kenkre eventually broke the deadlock Krish Adhikari brilliantly guided a Nathan De Rosario cross in off the angle of the woodwork.

Kenkre’s celebration portrayed pure bliss as they closed on their maiden win in the U-15 You League.

But there was work still to be done for Kenkre who faced a reaction from a spirited PIFA side. Kenkre FC’s goalkeeper earned his bread as he kept out Akash Jadhav’s scorching drive ten minutes from time. It was a truly wonderful save from the Kenkre Custodian which helped Kenkre close their first win of the season.

The win meant the world for Kenkre as they finally lodged a win after a series of good performances had gone in vain earlier.

PIFA Colaba gave a really good account of themselves as they ran Kenkre very close in a tightly contested game at Cooperage.