First half strike help Rising Stars FC rise above Veera United

by Kaushal Shukla March 18, 2015

Rising Star FC (RSFC) overcame Veera United 1-0 thanks to a first half strike from Mikhil Tandel in a 3rd Division game of the Mumbai District Football Association (MDFA) held at the St. Xavier’s Ground in Parel on 17th March 2015.

It was lively game of football but did not have too many goals to show for it as a solitary goal proved to be enough to decide the outcome.

The game was being played at a good tempo from the outset as both teams hardly took any time to make their first march to the opponent’s penalty area. Both teams had to clear off their lines to keep their opponents at bay in the opening ten minutes.

RSFC’s Ankit Pandey came the closest to opening the scoring in the 15th minute, when he brilliantly tried to chip the Veera United goalkeeper, Sagar Potdar who was equal to the task as he tipped it away from goal with an acrobatic dive.

But Sagar Potdar should have done better two minutes later when he allowed Mikhil Tendel’s shot from inside the box in at his near post. But much to Mikhil Tandel’s credit it was a neatly taken goal which finished off a good move from RSFC as they went 1-0 up.

RSFC went into the break with that one goal lead intact. It was fairly even half of football, but Mikhil’s goal was the difference between the two sides.

The second half had a similar flow to it as the first half. Ankit Pandey very nearly doubled RSFC’s lead in the 30th minute with a fine free kick which went inches over the crossbar.

As the second half progressed RSFC slowly started to tighten their grip on the game as they controlled majority of the possession, meaning Veera United had to play on the break.

Mikhil Tandel should have got his and his side’s second goal in the 40th minute, when he took too long to unleash his shot, allowing the Vera United defender to recover lost ground and prevent him from taking a shot at his goal.
But RSFC had a late scare as Veera United were centimeters from snatching a point as their striker’s effort after a crisp move allowed to fire goalwards went agonizingly close to the upright.

RSFC held on for an important win in a very closely fought encounter. Veera United gave it their all and could be proud of their efforts. On another day, the game could have gone their way, but yesterday was not supposed to be theirs.