KNFC & IIT Powai (B) storms into Quarter Final of 3rd division MDFA play-offs while TSG emerged victorious in a 2nd division clash

by Spandan Paul February 10, 2018

9^th February,2018 – Third division play-off stages continued on Friday along with a solitary 2^nd division MDFA match being held, here,at St. Xaviers ground, Parel, Mumbai. While Kapadia Nagar (KNFC)and IIT Powai (B) reached quarter final defeating Los Galacticos and Ruffians FC (A) by an identical 1-0 scoreline, The Sports Gurukul edged out Supreme FC in 2^nd division group B, again by 1-0.

3^rd Division Play-off (K/O) stage :- Kapadia Nagar(KNFC) (Hafeez 36’[P]) 1-0  Los Galacticos

In the last pre-quarters of the day Kapadia Nagar and Los galacticos clashed against each other for the battle of qualification to the quarters. As expected, it was a match where both the teams tried to wear each other down, as they vied for every ball, fought for every inch. But the first half saw KNFC regularly penetrating the Los Galactico defence; making life difficult for the defence line of Robin Fegueiro, Siddharth Monteiro,Tyson Vaz. But it the erratic nature of KNFC forwards that enabled Galacticos to keep a clean sheet going into the half time, with almost half a dozen chances blasted wayward.

The second half resumed with Galacticos looking composed; much to their fan’s relief. It took hardly five minutes for KNFC to come into groove as Arman Abdulla along with Zuber Khan, Maaz Shaikh and Hafeez Pathan combined pretty well,bringing on rapid attacks through the left  and middle. It was a matter of time, until KNFC go up, which incidentally was the only goal to be scored. As the clock went past 35^th minute, KNFC earned a penalty due to a dangerous challenge by Galactico defenders on Zakir Valsangkar who kept the ball possession in his feet for too long to induce the foul on him. Hafeez Pathan, staying true to his worn jersey number 7 converted the spot-kick which didn’t even give a whiff of chance to Galacticos custodian. Later a curling free-kick from Zuber hit the right woodwork ,which for otherwise would’ve been a spectacular goal.

Galacticos tried to rally back after the setback, many a times owing to sincere efforts from Nobert Fernandes,who was later subbed, Shanon Rodrigues and Mujtaba Dehghani, who all tried to penetrate a stubborn KNFC defense led by Arif Ansari and Tausif Shaikh. Arif, especially was like electric in the field and was easily the stand-out performer from the both sides as his positioning as well as situational awareness coupled with passing ability enabled KNFC to avert all of the danger brought in by the Galacticos ,as they now reach quarter final, where they will be facing the winner of another pre-quarter, between Indian Ex-Service Man and Judean United.

3^rd Division Play-off (K/O) stage :- IIT Powai (B) (Yoonus K 55’)  1-0  Ruffians FC (A)

In another play-off stage pre quarter final in 3^rd division, IIT Powai (B) sneaked past Ruffian FC (A) by the slimmest margin of victory. While IIT Powai (B) topped the chart in group B of the play-off league stage, Ruffians were runner up in group A coming into the first pre-quarters of the day. It was the second half strike from Yoonus K  in the 55^th minute that saw IIT Powai establishing their supremacy over Ruffian FC (A) as they now storm into the quarter finals, in what has been a pretty satisfying campaign for the IIT-ians. IIT Powai (B) will now meet the winner of Future Star Academy and Alpresco FC .

2^nd Division Group B ; The Sports Gurukul  (Abu Jafar 20’)  1-0  Supreme FC

Earlier in the day, the clash between The Sports Gurukul and Supreme FC in group B of 2^nd division started the series of 1-0 score line, which continued through-out the day . It was an early strike by Abu Jafar Karikar in the 20^th minute which put TSG up in the first half, the lead which they managed to sustain through-out the match. This is their 4^th victory in 7^th match which now see their points tally increase to 13. Supreme FC’s wait for their first victory elongated even more, as their woeful campaign might land them in trouble at the end of the season as they now lie at the bottom of the chart in group B with only 2 points in 6 matches.