Goalkeepers heroics take Bank of India, Mumbai Strikers through to quarter-finals

by Chittu Shetty February 10, 2018

10th February 2018, Mumbai: On Friday, the 111th edition of RCF Nadkarni Cup 2018 saw two matches – Mumbai Strikers played Mumbai Customs in the first game while Bank of India (BOI) locked horns against PIFA in the second encounter of the day. Interestingly both game ended in goalless draw leading up to penalty, where Mumbai Strikers and Bank of India emerged victorious setting up a quarter-final clash between each other.

Despite both the game ending without a goal scored in Normal time, the knockout format meant the matches led to penalty shootout, giving fans nothing less on excitement. In the first game of the day, Mumbai Customs faced Mumbai striker in the first round encounter. Both the sides put caution to wind and played well defensively with goal-keepers putting on a great shift. By full-time neither side managed to break the deadlock, with the game heading into Penalty Shoot-out. While Mumbai Strikers converted their first attempt, customs missed blazing over the bar. Abhishek Bhagat, Saurabh Solanki Ravish D’souza and Arsalan Hamdulay found the net for Strikers while Joshua Vendakar and Mathias Coutinho were the only ones to hit the net for Customs. Mumbai Strikers eventually went through to the next round edging Mumbai Customs 4-2 on Penalty shoot-out.

Game 1: Mumbai Strikers 0 (4) – 0 (2) Mumbai Customs

In the second encounter, PIFA faced off against Bank of India for a place in quarter-final. In this high intensity game, both the sides were down to ten men after getting their players sent-off for violent conduct. While Rakesh Mahid of Bank of India was given the marching order in just the 20^th minute, PIFA failed to capitalise on the man advantage before getting themselves reduced by a man. Venky was shown straight red in the 75^th minute, as the game was now turning into final quarter. The game remained goalless until the full-time whistle after which penalty shoot-out was played. Bank of India Keeper Sanjeev Verma pulled off two incredible saves to deny PIFA goals as BOI won 4-2. Sushant and Kamran were on mark for PIFA while Alvito Gomes, Shubham Dalvi, Rupesh Meher and Sailesh Jadhav converted their strikes to send BOI in to quarter-finals.

Game 2: Bank of India (BOI) 0 (4) – 0 (2) PIFA