Miners dig deep to overcome Naval Dockyard

by Prasad bhutkar January 23, 2016

Miners overcame Naval Dockyard by 2-0 in  the Mumbai District Football Association (MDFA) , First Division match held on Saturday evening at St Xavier’s ground, Parel.

Naval Dockyard came into this game after a 7-1 thumping by Sea View and looked to put it all behind them against a confident Miners side.

Well it was Miners who set the dice rolling as they created a host of opportunities to go ahead but failed to covert those chances. Naval Dockyard were living on the edge of the area as Miners looked to score the opener. In the 24th minute, number 9 Jayesh Kadam put them in front after a lovely move from the left was converted. And it could have been more worse for the Naval boys when number 8 Ashish Dayal rounded off  the keeper only to have a narrow angle and run out of ideas hitting his shot at the keeper. A glorious chance to make it 2-0

And it was very nearly the second goal when a lovely weighted lobbed ball into the path of number 9 Jayesh Kadam was miss hit over the crossbar. That would have been a spectacular volley had he managed to keep it down. Miners deservedly went into half time with a goal in front.

The second half saw Miners quickly double their lead just two minutes in, when number 9 Jayesh Kadam netted the rebound of the Dockyard keeper who did extremely well to keep the first shot out. A goal that gave them a breather as it looked like they would go on to score more. Many of the counter attacks saw their wingers flagged offside.

A moment of controversy yet again in an MDFA game when the referee looked to have made a mistake giving the foul against Miners when it was the Miners’ player who was fouled. This led to exchange of words between the referee and number 9 Jude who was a substitute standing at the touch line. A series of exchanges saw the referee give him a yellow card and almost threatned to stop the game if the player did not leave for the stands. After the MDFA officials intervened the matter was solved and the play was allowed to go on.

The incident seem to have taken  the sting out of the game. But Miners kept playing their game trying to construct attacks down the left. They were unlucky not to score more. In the end Naval Dockyard succumbed to yet another defeat as Miners crossed the finish line with ease.