WIFA Women’s League: Aspire wins big, PIFA stays at top of the table with a 4-0 win

by Chittu Shetty August 20, 2022

Defending champions PIFA sports keep their grip at the top of the table with a 4-0 win over city rival Kenkre FC; Meanwhile, FSI and Puneri Warriors share the spoils while Aspire FC picks consecutive wins.

Nirvan Shah’s side picked a crucial 4-0 win over their city rivals Kenkre FC, to keep their hold of the league leader position with another comprehensive win.

Coming on the back of two wins, PIFA took charge of the game early on with some good attacking moves in front of Kenkre’s defense. After some back and forth, PIFA took the lead when from a corner set-piece the ball fell for Mamta Kumari in space as her shot beat Kenkre keeper Sushma making it 1-0.

Ten minutes late, a handball inside the Kenkre box gave PIFA the opportunity to double the lead through penalty as Akanksha Kandalkar made no mistake dispatching the ball past the keeper to make it 2-0.

In the second half, Kenkre tried hard to get back into the game creating some chances of their own but found it hard to break the PIFA defense. Just minutes after the hour mark, a twin strike in the space of three minutes by Akanksha and substitute Dolly Kumari killed the game for Kenkre as PIFA took a 4-0 lead into the match.

FT: Kenkre FC 0 – 4 PIFA Sports (Mamta Kumari 25’, Akanksha Kandalkar 37’ (P), 66’, Dolly Kumari 64’)

The second game of the day saw some good end-to-end football between Footie First and Puneri Warriors as the game eventually ended at 2-2 score line with both sides taking home a point each.

Preetha Nayak broke the deadlock in the 16^th minute for Footie First, ending the club’s goalless run of 206 minutes in the competition. Puneri Warriors fought back with striker Nilisha Sanket leveling things up in the 37^th minute. Both sides entered the break on level terms.

In the second half, Puneri took the charge with Skipper Rutuja Gunwant striking it past Footie Goalie Priyanka to put the Pune outfit in lead. Having lost the lead and now trailing the game, Footie Coach Rounak Desai rung in a couple of changes to boost the attack. It paid of immediately as substitute Nahida Khatoon, a minute after coming into the field managed to beat her marker to run away with the ball before finishing it off to the right of the goalkeeper to put the game back on level pegging.

Both sides tried to look for a winner but no more goals were further scored till the final whistle as the game ended at 2-2.

FT: Footie First FC (Preetha Nayak 25’, Nahida Khatoon 65’) 2 – 2 Puneri Warriors (Nilisha Sanket 37’, Rutuja Gunwant 60’)

In the final game of Matchday 4, Aspire FC took on FSI Navi Mumbai in a rather one-sided contest where Pune-based Aspire FC came out triumph. The first half saw FSI showing some solid defensive line to keep Aspire’s attack in check for the most part. Vaishnavi Barate broke the deadlock in the 20^th minute to put Aspire in lead. It wasn’t until the final minutes of the first half that Aspire managed to double the lead after Muriel Adam’s shot beat the keeper to nestle into the net.

The late goal deflated FSI as seen in the second half where Aspire managed to ship in five goals. Gita Das struck a brace while Sapna Rajpure and Saniya VS added one each. Substitute Ajoosha Shirin scored late in the injury time to complete the 7-0 rout.

FT: Aspire FC (Vaishnavi Barate 20’, Muriel Adam 45+4’, Gita Das 58’, 77’, Saniya VS 68’, Sapna Rajpure 84’, Ajoosha Shirin 90+2’) 7 – 0 FSI Navi Mumbai

For Fixtures, News, Stats, and more on the WIFA Women’s league – Click here

For Trial related updates: Latest trials updates in Mumbai Football

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