Sizzling Mumbai FC sink battling Kenkre FC in U-15 I-League opener

by Kaushal Shukla November 8, 2015

Mumbai FC U-15 dished out a fine performance to beat ten men Kenkre FC U-15 2-0 in the first ever U-15 I-League game played at Mumbai’s iconic Cooperage stadium on Saturday evening.

Mumbai FC started the game with a very high tempo which forced Kenkre to retreat deep into their own half. Mumbai FC’s Kartik Bele came close to opening the scoring for his side in the 3rd minute when his shot from the edge of the six yard area went inches wide of the post.

Mumbai FC who playing with a lot of swagger should have taken the lead in the 12th minute when some good work from Kamran Ansari on the right wing saw him fire a cross across the face of the goal which fell to Meet Jain on the edge of the area who blasted his effort over.

Mumbai FC were forced into a change in the 20th minute when Kartik Bele had to be replaced by Akash Rathod.

Mumbai FC’s intensity dropped after the first twenty minutes as Kenkre survived the early spell of pressure from Mumbai. Kenkre FC very nearly stunned Mumbai FC with a breathtaking effort from Nathan De Rosario whose shot from more than forty yards went out off the crossbar. It was a great piece of thinking from the Kenkre FC midfielder who almost caught the Mumbai FC goalkeeper out.

Two minutes later at the other end, Kamran Ansari saw his effort blocked by a Kenkre defender as he prevented a certain goal.

However Kenkre FC had the best chance of the first half which came deep into first half stoppage time when midfielder Sanaatan Sridhar slid in a clever pass to Tarun Tiwari whose powerful shot was brilliantly kept out by Manav Bavaskar.

The first half ended goalless despite seeing plenty of goalmouth action as neither team seized the moment when it came their way.

Mumbai FC started the second half on the front foot, dominating possession but it was Kenkre FC who threatened in the 62nd minute when Nathan De Rosario made a driving run on the left to leave the Mumbai FC right back on the ground, but his drilled cross across the face of the goal had no takers.

Mumbai FC finally broke the deadlock in the 67th minute when Kamran Ansari sent a looping header over the Kenkre FC goalkeeper into the back of the net.

Kenkre’s task became doubly difficult when a Kenkre’s Parth Dave was sent off for a rash tackle in the 73rd minute.

The red card totally opened up Kenkre as Mumbai FC began to dominate proceedings and threatened to run away with it. Mumbai’s Meet Jain almost profitted from a miskick from the Kenkre FC goalkeeper and fired his shot just wide of the target.

However in the 83rd minute, Mumbai FC doubled their lead when Akash Rathod’s cut back was slotted home by Shreyas Sail in the 83rd minute.

Mumbai FC who were buoyed by the goal completely took the game to Kenkre and passed up chance after chance to add to their tally.

The referee’s whistle gave Mumbai FC a deserved win over a Kenkre FC team which showed plenty of fight but failed to produce the quality when it mattered the most.