O’Sheish and Holy Cross emerges victorious in the 3rd division pre-quarters

by Spandan Paul February 9, 2018

8th February,2018 – It was the occasion for 3rd division play off knock out round in MDFA (Mumbai District Football Association) with two of them happening, in St. Xaviers Ground, Parel. Holy Cross overcame Renaissance by a solitary goal in the first pre-quarter fixture  while O’Sheish outsmarted United Villagers Welfare 2-0 in the second one. Meanwhile in a consequential 1st division.group B clash Sunday Boys FC moved to the top after a dominating 4-1 victory over Bombay Gymkhana Colts.   

3rd Division Pre-quarters :–O’Sheish FC (Rahil  23′  32′)   2-0   United Villagers Welfare

As 3rd division play off knock out phase kicked off, O’sheish FC and United Villagers Welfare Asso. locked horns to qualify for quarter final. The match started on a positive note with both the teams testing each other’s defense out couple of times. While O ‘Sheish looked a bit cautious, United Villagers started pretty well keeping fair share of ball possession; with their first real chance coming to Brantino who missed a golden opportunity to put UVWA up as a brilliant ball from Parful Dunga found him clear of the O’Sheish FC backline, only for Brantino’s first touch to be a tad too heavy, as the ball rolled on to O’Sheish custodian for a comfortable save. Parful was again involved in another build-up for United Villagers, as he provided a great ball to his forward who lobbed the ball in a rush, as O’Sheish goalie came charging out but to the agony of UVWA supporters the lobbed ball just went over the crossbar.

Immediately after, against the run of the play O’Sheish struck their first goal. It was a magnificent through ball from Abdus Ansari which found the sprinting Rahil Damani. The United Villagers goalie came rushing out from the D-box and Rahil showing a great presence of mind provided a heavy touch to the left of the goalie to finish off a sublime goal. It was from this, moment O’Sheish took the upper hand while United Villagers withered away from the match. Both the team went into the half with 1-0  scoreline.

Second half saw a revamped approach from United Villagers but for a few minutes only, with Brijal Possa playing out of his skin to provide balls to his forwards. Meanwhile ,after a cautious start again in the second half O’Sheish brought on the attack to Villagers half as Shervin along with the centre midfield Aatif Gaziani,coupled with the pair of Rahil Damani and Faizan Shaikh  just took the game away from their opposition by brilliant passing and co-ordination within themselves.

The second goal was a costly mistake from the UVWFC goalie, who had a fairly good game until then. It was another dangerous looking through-ball from the middle , which the Villagers’ custodian rushed out of his territory to clear the ball but unfortunately he totally missed the ball with Rahil Damani again sprinting and collecting the ball near the goalline,left to the woodwork.He calmly put the ball into the net from almost 0 degree angle while the defenders Rowin and Parful tried to close him down,but in vain. Couple of more chances fell O’Sheish’s way but the scoreline wouldn’t change as with the final whistle O’Sheish qualified to the quarter final where they will face off against Holy Cross, who defeated Renaissance in the other quarter final.

3rd  Division, Pre-Q/F : – Holy Cross FC (Lara 22′)  1-0 Renaissance

In the first pre-quarter final of the day Holy Cross  vanquished Renaissance  courtesy a Lara Gonsalves goal in the first half. It was yet another exciting match with both the teams fighting it out; leaving not a single inch for each other as former India International Steven Dias watched on from Holy Cross sidelines, causing them no dearth of  enthusiasm. The goal came in the 22nd min after a brief dominating display by Holy Cross which saw them opening up Renaissance’s defense. They got a free kick, 10-15 yards from D-box which was taken by the experienced Albert Gogai and Lara Gonsalves was not to be denied as the centre-back of Holy Cross converted the only goal which finally differentiated the teams after the final whistle.

Renaissance tried to rally back in the second half piling on pressure on their opponents. Sean Briganza  provided a brilliant pass to Lordson which was cleared by a sliding Amsten Rodrigues who was rock-solid at the back for Holy Cross. Dean Rodrigues dazzled with his agile footwork while  Albert hit the woodwork from a freekick rebound of Transwer D’Mello, the right back. Rancy the Holy Cross goalie inflicted a nice save off a free kick from Tausif Malif who worked hard through out the game but couldn’t find the back of the net. It was finally the backline quartet of Lara, Amsten, Astle and Transwer, who made the difference between the sides with confident defending as they took Holy Cross safe and dry to the quarter final.

1st Division ,Group B

Sunday Boys FC(Ganesh 13′ ,Abhishek  53′,Vikrant  64′, Sharad 14′, Prashant 74′)  4-1  Bombay Gym Colts. (Jimmy 45′)

Earlier, in group B, first division, Sunday Boys FC inflicted a heavy defeat on Bombay Gym Colts. Ganesh Shetty opened the scoring in the 13th minute while Jimmy equalized at the stroke of the break in the 45th min. As many as 3 goals were scored by Sunday Boys in the second half by Abhishek Parab, Vikrant Singh and Prathamesh Sawant. This win enabled Sunday Boys to go clear of Desparedos at the top with 12 points in 5 matches while Bombay Gym Colts still languish at the lower half dropping a place to be at eight with only 3 points in 5 matches.