Saraswati S.C kick-off Late Shri Ramnath Padaye League with a 2-1 win over Kanara Bros. S.C.

by Balbir Singh November 8, 2015

The 20th edition of the Late Sri Ramanath Payyade League started-off with the coconut ceremony taking place at the center of the field. A total of 15 teams are participating in the league, divided in groups. Each half is played for 30 minutes. The first match of the 20^th edition of the league kicked-off at the Karnatak Sports Association ground, Mumbai on 7th November 2015 as Kanara Bros. S.C. were beaten by Saraswati S.C. by two goals to one.

As the game kicked-off in fairly-high spirits, the Kanara Bros. S.C. started off brightly and with an essence of swagger in their gameplay. They passed and dribbled past Saraswati S.C. players at will, and the latter were discomforted with the storm that had hit them. Neat passing, always a man available to pass to, overloading the midfield area, quick and attack minded players meant Kanara Bros. S.C. were presented with a large chunk of opportunities in the opening minutes of the game.

Saraswati S.C. eventually settled into the game and took matters under control with time remaining, when the opening goal from Kanara Bros. S.C. number 7 Vikas Jhadav, who lashed the ball into the net after a defensive mix-up  was cut-short with a goal late in the first-half scored by Austin Soares. The number 5 guided the ball past the Kanara Bros. S.C. goalkeeper after he was presented with a delightful through-ball by Akshay Pawar, who went onto score the winner in the second-half.

In wasn’t undeserving for a team to end the first-half at 1-1 after creating ample good opportunities earlier in the game, only to fail in converting most of the chances. Saraswati S.C. having eventually struggled in maintaining possession, communication and tracking runs changed the game in the second-half. Their approach throughout the game was to overpower their opposition with their sheer physicality. They did it with effect as the game gradually progressed, blocking the runs with better positioning.

Like the first-half, the second-half started at an equally brighter rate for Kanara Bros. S.C., but faded drastically. Sunil Rathod missed the first-chance of the second-half as Saraswati S.C. presented ample opportunities by giving-away too many cheap fouls, as they invited pressure. But their gameplay played-out when Akshay Pawar’s attempted through-pass to Harish Kundapur went untouched and deflected on from inside of the left-post and into the back of the net. The Kanara Bros. S.C.’s goalkeeper came-out to gather the ball, but failed to collect. A scrappy goal, but Kanara Bros. S.C. paid their price for not taking their chances.