Central Railway (HQ) derails Income Tax 5-2

by Siddharth Yadav November 29, 2017

28th November 2017, Mumbai: In a crucial MDFA – Mumbai District Football Association Super Division fixture, former Elite Division side Central Railway faced Income Tax at Mumbai Football Arena on Tuesday afternoon.

A seven-goal thriller followed as Central Railway brushed past Income Tax to snatch an important 5-2 win. This was a tale of ‘missed chances’ as both the sides lacked the final blow in front of the goal.

Central Railway started on a positive note when Shafeeq opened the scoring in the 3rd minute with a sublime strike.
Midway into the first-half, Shafeeq’s brilliant free-kick was tipped over the bar by Income Tax’s goalkeeper Faiz Shaikh. On the other end, Harshad Meher also displayed his reflexes after making an equally good save to deny Marshal Francis’ deadly volley.

In the 30th minute, against the run of play, Income Tax levelled the score when a fantastic free-kick by Camillo Noronha was nodded home by Sumesh Kapadia.

After the restart, Central Railway got a couple of great opportunities to restore the lead through Sumesh KS and Shabaaz Pathan but the duo didn’t manage to keep their cool in front of goal.

Seven minutes after equalizing, Marshal Francis finally got on the scoresheet after a looping header past Harshad Meher to give Income Tax an unlikely 2-1 lead. But Central Railway equalized at the stroke of half-time through Sumesh KS’s close-range goal.

The second-half saw the introduction of Karim Shaikh who made his first appearance after missing out due to a long-term injury.

Also read: Karim Shaikh’s inspiring journey

The game swiftly turned in Central Railway’s favour as they started creating more and more chances. It was substitute Manoj Yadav’s close-range strike after the initial shot from Sajandeep was denied by goalkeeper Faiz Shaikh. Central Railway was now 3-2 up.

Karim, Sajandeep and Shabaaz Pathan combined brilliantly in the last quarter of the game to derail Income Tax. Shabaaz went on to score twice to give the Railways a commendable 5-2 lead.

Shabaaz would have scored his hat-trick when Karim Shaikh set him up with a delicate through ball. Shabaaz only managed to place his effort wide.

Even though Central Railway scored five times, it was quite evident that the former Elite Division side must work on their finishing in order to return in the top-flight of Mumbai Football.