Pillai College end two year agony to lift the Mumbai University Tournament

by Kaushal Shukla October 11, 2015

Pillai College, Panvel won the prestigious Mumbai University Inter-Collegeate Football Tournament defeating G.N. Khalsa of Matunga 1-0 in the Final played at the University Pavillion on Sunday, 11th October.

The game had the feel of a big final right from the referee’s whistle as few tackles flew in early on.

Both teams were fired up for the occasion and didn’t give each other an inch in the opening qurter of the game.

The game came to boil after players from both teams went into the referee’s book. Khalsa’s Aloysius Fernandes was booked for a late tackle, while Vinil Poojary was the first player to be booked for Pillai.

But in the 36th minute, Pillai made the all-important breakthrough when M.Ishaq was alert to pounce after a cross rebounded back into the danger area. Ishaq who had scored 15 goals in the competition made no mistake in tapping the loose ball home, much to the delight of their supporters who were more than making themselves heard from the stands.

At the break Pillai went in with the slender lead, but Khalsa were still very much in the game

Khalsa came very close to getting on level terms seven minutes into the second half when Makandar Ashrafal’s free kick which destined for the top corner was kept out by the heroics of Nitin Choudhary in goal for Pillai.

At the other end, Pillai’s Nikhil Poojary did extremely well on the left flank to create space for a cross in the 57th minutr, but Akshay P failed to make a good connection to it as the chance went begging.

It was Pillai who continued to control the game. Last ten minutes Khalsa tried hard bit ran out of ideas in the end.

The referee’s whistle sparked celebrations in the Pillai camp after a solid second half performance earned them a deserved win in the Final.