Shiv Sagar shoot down Hirai Suns in penalties

by Siddharth Yadav May 9, 2016

On 7th May, 2016 Shiv Sagar beat struggling side Hirai Suns 3-2 in penalty shootout after the match ended 1-1 in normal time, which was played out at Cooperage Stadium.

Shiv Sagar’s Merwyn Stephen opened the scoring on the 19th minute before Hirai’s Captain Sushil Kawde leveled the score from the spot in the dying minutes.

In the penalties, Hirai Suns FC’s marquee player Shrikant missed from the spot which gave Merwyn a chance to send his team through. Merwyn comprehensively scored to give Shiv Sagar a vital win.

Shiv Sagat started the match on high note, it took them only 19 minutes to open the scoring through Merwyn who scored from a corner.

Lavesh Patil and Shabbir Shaikh came close to double Shiv Sagar’s lead in the first half but only managed to hit their shot wide.

On the stroke of half time, Shiv Sagar’s Nitesh Monde set Merwyn through on goal, but the latter’s shot was brilliantly saved by Harshad Meher.

In the second half, Hirai Suns head coach Nagesh Swami brought on Saif Shaikh who immediately had an impact on the game.

Saif came very close to level the score when he danced past couple of defenders and even rounded off the goalkeeper, but only managed to see his left footed shot being cleared by Milind Meher from the line.

This clearance also earned Milind the player of the match award.

In the dying stages of the match, Hirai Suns were awarded a penalty. Captain Sushil Kawde stepped up and converted the penalty to send the match into tie-breaker.

In the penalty shootout, Shiv Sagar’s Ritesh Perambra scored a panenka which actually need lots of confidence and practise to execute it accurately.

Hirai’s Shrikant saw his penalty hit the post before Merwyn scored the winning penalty to give Shiv Sagar a vital two points.