West Zone United Beat Fr. Agnel 3-0 to Register First Win of the Campaign

by Balbir Singh November 26, 2015

On the 25^th of November, 2015, Father Agnel stumbled to a 3-0 defeat to West Zone United in the Super Division match of Mumbai District Football Association (M.D.F.A.). All the goals were scored in the first-half of the match, no. 7 Faizan Shaikh opened the scoring on the 13^th minute mark, and didn’t bother scoring another goal inside 3 minutes of the first-goal in the 15^th minute.

The moment of the match came, when the ball fell to West Zone United’s player-manager Edward Agbajoh on the half-way line, who hit the ball first-time into the back of the net. He was astonished to what he had just delivered from his foot in his 20+ years’ footballing career!

In the first-half of the match, the chances were equally distributed amongst both the teams; the statement might seem to be contradicting the scoreline, but it was an obvious case, where Father Agnel didn’t possess ample incisiveness to convert a genuine goalscoring chance into a potential goal.

The goals somewhat gave West Zone United a much needed moral boost after an undeserving 1-0 defeat to Air India – courtesy of an Amey Bhatkal goal – in the previous game. The game was in control of West Zone, and it was upon them to whether try to attack and score as-many goals they can.

But, player-manager Edward Agbajoh had a different and a much more cautious approach by the time second-half began. He setup his side to soak-up the wave of attacks from Father Agnel and hit them of the counterattack, whereas an opportunity halts-by. Chances did come, but a failure to convert them would be a concern in the matches to come, where circumstances would be different.

Father Agnel on the other hand, dominated proceedings in the second period of the game, but failed to convert their chances. Seemed they didn’t learn from the first-half. An aspect Father Agnel might regret on improving not only in the game, but also in the longer-run. West Zone United hardly attacked them in the second half with the same level of cohesiveness. W.Z.U. fielded two young debutants in the heart of their defence who stabilized in their roles as the match progressed albeit receiving less than enough protection from midfield. This weakness was exploited by Fr. Agnel who maintained large chunks of possession inside West Zone United’s half in the second 45 minutes.

All together, a brilliant first-half performance proved to be enough on the day for West Zone United or the boys from St. Peter’s School, Muzgaon who registered their first win of the campaign. There’s a special bond between the players and the player-coach Edward Agbajoh, which will be tested more than often in a tough season ahead.