Plucky Naaz United sink spirited Hina Royals

by Kaushal Shukla May 2, 2015

Naaz United edged out a spirited Hina Royals outfit 1-0 in a Colaba Super League game at the Back Gardens Ground in Colaba on Friday, 1st May 2015.

After a tight opening exchanges, it was the Hina Royals who created the first opening when Lavesh Patil played in Saurabh Me her who unleashed an absolute bullet of a strike which was brilliantly kept out by Naaz United goalkeeper Manish Shetty in the 8th minute.

It took 17 minutes for Naaz United to conjure up their first real chance when the United defender Walter Liu headed back a corner in the danger area but Akash Pawar could only shoot over the crossbar.

Seven minutes later, Hina Royals’ Lavesh Patil failed to sort his feet out as he failed to finish off a brilliant counter attack initiated by Saurabh Me her WO drove down the left flank to set up Lavesh Patil.

Hina Royals were fortunate not to concede when a Karim Shaikh strike was nearly deflected into their own net off a Hina Royals defender in the 27th minute.

A minute later though Hina Royals nearly got their noses in front when Lavesh Patil’s strike went centimetres wide of the right hand side post.

Neither side could break the deadlock as both teams went into the break as they started at 0-0.

Naaz United broke the deadlock just seven minutes into the second half when Lakhan Lokhande fired home from a cross and put Naaz United 1-0 up.

Hina Royals who had most of the openings before going behind found themselves behind. The Royals very nearly equalised Dhiraj Meher’s drilled effort in the 44th minute went agonisingly wide of the target.

Karim Shaikh was brilliantly denied a second goal for Naaz United after Hitesh Paghdhare made a brilliant save down to his left in the 47th minute.

Karan Dhanu missed another chance to give Naaz United some breathing space when fired wide of the target in the 53rd minute.

A minute later the Royals almost made United rue the missed chance when Lavesh Patil’s effort rattled the upright.

In the final minute of the game, Yogendra Meher’s strike was destined for the top corner but a fantastic piece of defending from Balram Patil kept Naaz United’s clean sheet intact.

There was a controversial moment right at the end of the game when Hina Royals were denied a clear penalty when a Naaz United player seemed to have handled the ball in the penalty area. But the referee was unmoved

Hina Royal’s valiant attempt to grab an equaliser went in vain as Naaz United held on for a win.

The win takes Naaz United to to the second spot in the table after consecutive 1-0 wins.