Maharashtra suffer its first defeat, go down to Dadra & Nagar Haveli 1-2

by Chittu Shetty June 25, 2022

Despite taking an early lead, two goals in the space of six minutes meant Maharashtra suffered their first defeat of the campaign, with the road to next-round qualifications now looking a bit bleak.

The loss has put a big dent on qualifying hopes for the Maharashtra girls, with the final group game against 8 – time Junior Girls NFC runner-ups Odisha side now being a must-win game and even with that results elsewhere between Chandigarh and Dadra & Nagar Haveli will matter a lot, as only a win or draw from Chandigarh would give Maharashtra the chance to go through.

Coming on the back of two wins, Maharashtra looked confident on another solid performance as they began brightly. After some end-to-end football at the start, Midfielder Ritika Singh finally broke the deadlock in the 26^th minute after beating her marker to finish with aplomb as Maharashtra took the lead.

However, Dadra & Nagar Haveli up their ante with some attacking gameplay, pushing up for a quick equalizer. They were soon rewarded when Pushpa Devi broke free of Maharashtra’s defense to slot home the equalizer. Six minutes later, Muskan gave Dadra & Nagar Haveli the lead, putting Maharashtra on back foot as the score read 2-1 at the break.

Despite best efforts in the second half, Maharashtra girls struggled to breach a resolute Dadra & Nagar Haveli defense as the score remained 2-1 at the end of full time.

After this close loss, Maharashtra are currently placed in the 3rd spot of Group F of Hero Junior Girls’ National Football Championship with 6 points and just one point behind the group leaders Odisha and Dadra & Nagar Haveli who are both at 7 points.

Maharashtra faces Odisha at 1:00 PM tomorrow in the final group game. Both teams will head into the game keeping in mind the result of the Chandigarh and Dadra & Nagar Haveli game that would be played at the same time tomorrow. The result of which would be crucial for both Odisha and Maharashtra’s chances to next round qualification.

FT: Maharashtra (Ritika Singh 26’) 1 – 2 Dadra Nagar Haveli (Pushpa Devi 33’, Muskan 38’)

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