Kenkre under-19 bounce back from 2-0 versus Serco to draw 2-2

by Balbir Singh February 8, 2016

Both Kenkre under-19 and Serco came into Monday afternoon’s match at Poinsur Gymkhana having guaranteed a place in next-season’s Mumbai District Football Association (MDFA) Super Division. Kenkre under-19 and Serco shared points in the final match of their campaigns; two goals inside 15 minutes from Utsav Bachani and Bosco Pereira for Serco stunned an under-performing Kenkre under-19 side, whose bounce-back-ability helped rescue them a point with goals from Shuntan Pheiray and Nathan Fernandes.

Having fallen short in front of goal the last-time against Income Tax, Kenkre under-19 tackled different problems against Serco, this time. After suffering back-to-back defeats, Kenkre under-19 began Monday afternoon’s tussle versus Serco on the front-foot, but a lack of structure and untidy passing moves at the back saw Serco 2-0 up; Utsav Bachani opened the scoring in the 10th minute, when a poor headed-clearance from Manoj Gupta fell straight to the no.10 outside the 18-yard-box as he hammered a volley past goalkeeper Arbaz Khan’s left and into the net; 4 minutes later, Bosco Pareira smashed a powerful shot in the right-hand corner giving Arbaz Khan no chance whatsoever.

The two goals Kenkre under-19 conceded were carbon-copies of each-other; on both the occasions, they failed to clear the ball in-time and close the player in possession of the ball down. Although, Kenkre under-19 did find breathing space, when Shuntan Pheiray’s acrobatic finish past the Serco goalkeeper bought his side back into the contest in the 16th minute, but poor passing in the midfield and final-third area failed Kenkre under-19’s aspirations of leveling-up and turning the tie around before the half-time whistle.

For a majority proportion of the second-half, Serco were managing to defend a flurry of unsuccessful Kenkre under-19 attacks with two injured players on the field of play and no real options to replace them with as they tried to defend a narrow one-goal advance. An equalizer arrived from Nathan Fernandes in the 74th minute of the match changed Serco’s objectives, who defended to hold Kenkre under-19 for a draw, after fine footwork from the no.27 helped him get past a block of Serco defenders, carving a chance from which the midfielder converted to draw his team level.

The match concluded at all smiles from both the parties involved, but as an underachieving campaign came to a closure, if not about the match, there’s a lot more to think and talk about for the two sides.