Hirai Suns FC and Konark romps to narrow wins

by Siddharth Yadav May 24, 2016

On 22^nd May at Cooperage, Hirai Suns FC and Konark romped to narrow victories to keep their hopes alive to stay in the Colaba Sports League 2016.

Hirai Suns earned a hard-fought 3-1 victory against Shark FC in the penalty shootout, whereas Konark edged out Flash FC 1-0.

Hirai Suns FC vs Shark FC

An inform Shark FC met Hirai Suns FC in a nervy encounter at Cooperage, where the latter ran out as winners in the penalties after the match ended 2-2 in regulation period.

Prakash Khatti gave Shark FC an early lead in the 8^th minute after a goalkeeping error by Hirai Suns FC’s goalkeeper Harshad Meher, who couldn’t kept out a long range effort by Prakash. Although five minutes later, marquee player Heekmat Singh levelled the score after a good link up with Karim Shaikh and Shrikant.

Hirai Suns didn’t sat back and soaked the pressure from Shark FC, they instead pushed forward for the second goal, and in 23^rd minute Jiten Bhoir who was set up my Shrikant easily scored past Pritam Jadhav to give Hirai a solitary lead.

Shark FC, who were backed by the number of supporters from the stands almost hit back instantly when both Shailesh Jadhav and Anil Pawar came close to find the back of the net.

Few minutes later, Shark FC’s Prakash Khatti pounced on a loose ball and scored from close range, but the linesman ruled it out as an offside. The decision created a spark in Shark FC’s dugout where the management claimed it as a legit goal.

The referee’s decision stayed intact and the match moved on. In the second half, both the set of players started to feel the heat, and didn’t covered much distance as they did in the first half.

But after a good display by Shark FC in the second half, they finally got their reward in the 60^th minute.

Shark FC were awarded a late penalty, Anil Pawar stepped up and saw his attempt saved by Harshad Meher, but scored on the rebound to take the match into penalties.

Hirai Suns edged the men in blues 3-1 in penalties.

Hirai Suns FC’s Sushil Kawde, Heekmat Singh and Akshay Pawar scored from the spot, whereas only Anil Pawar converted for Shark FC with Mrunal Tandel missing his attempt.

Anil Pawar was named as the player of the match.

Konark vs Flash FC

In the second and the last match of the day, Konark registered a narrow 1-0 victory against Flash FC to keep their hopes of qualifying for the semis alive.

After an anticipating first half where both the outfit didn’t took their chances clinically, the deadlock was broken in the 54^th minute when Navin Negi scored against the run of play to put Konark in front. It was Konark’s only short on target as they missed their star attackers Valentine Pereira and Venkatesh Shrinivas due to suspensions. With this win, Konark has moved to fourth spot which is also the last spot for the qualification into the semis.

Flash FC’s Tejas Raut and Ashish Pawaskar once again stood as the standout players, but couldn’t helped their side to snatch a point out of this match.

Konark’s Floyd Dharmai, who was later named as the player of the match created many openings for his side, and came agonizingly close twice to double Konark’s lead but couldn’t managed to hit his shot accurately.

This unlikely loss has brought down Flash FC on to 5^th position, with only one game remaining Flash FC needs to win their last match anyhow.