John Fernandes strikes in the injury time to salvage a point for Central Bank of India

by Siddharth Yadav February 18, 2016

Central Bank of India (CBI) strucked right at the end to get away with a 1-1 draw and earn a vital point against Kenkre FC in the Mumbai District Football Association (MDFA) Elite Division match at Cooperage Stadium on Wednesday evening.

Egypsio Noronha had put Kenkre in front midway into the first-half but the backline of Kenkre had already soaked an extreme level of pressure from Central Bank of India’s attackers. With just seconds left CBI’s John Fernandes finally equalized to cancel out Egypsio Noronha’s opener.

Central Bank of India proved to be the better side, not only in the first-half but also in the second. The high pressing from Central Bank of India’s was turning out to be worry for Kenkre. CBI did had number of chances in the early quarter of the game but they were not effective in front of the goal which kept the match more open.

The deadlock was broken but in the CBI’s half. Kenkre’s Egypsio Noronha’s shot from inside the box was saved but luckily it fell into his own way, the attacker on the rebound calmly put the ball into the empty net to give Kenkre FC an important lead on the 30th minute.

With Egypsio’s opener Kenkre FC’s dugout heaved a sigh of relief as they went into the break with a one goal lead.

Central Bank of India, in the second-half yet again proved superior. Although in the final-third the CBI’s forwards seemed to look a bit off as Kenkre’s backline cleared all the danger which kept on threatening them for most of the match.

CBI’s Andrew Burthelo was having a field day as his sudden burst of accleration from the right wing was creating a havoc for most of the second-half.

With the match going into the dying minutes Kenkre thought they are going away with all three points until Central Bank of India was awarded with a late corner.

After all the hard efforts for 90 minutes CBI’s John Fernandes excellently headed home to level the score in a dramatic way. It has been Kenkre’s weakness this season to concede late goals which was clearly visible in their previous games too.

In the end where Central Bank of India got away with a point, the result could have been way better for CBI than the final score.