The match started off slowly. Both the sides took their time to settle into the game but in terms of physicality, the first-half saw a number of tackles and challenges flying in both the ends. The first genuine opportunity came midway into the first-half.

Union Bank of India’s Sherwyn Chang almost opened the scoring when his powerful shot was denied by Western Railway’s Goalkeeper Jagroop Singh. A few moments later, Valentine Pereira also fancied his luck, which was once again thwarted by Jagroop.

With the first-half closing in, the deadlock was finally broken when UBI’s Goalkeeper Prathamesh Baban made a costly error as he, unfortunately, let the ball slip and into the path of prowling Reuben D’Souza who comfortably clipped in the opening goal of the match.

The second-half was no less than the first in terms of match tempo and grit of both the teams. In search of an equalizer, UBI almost levelled the score through Siddharth Shetty who combined superbly with Sherwyn Chang on the right flank.

UBI consistent pressure on Western Railway finally paid off in the 81st minute of the match when defender Prabal handled the ball inside the penalty box. Referee Dinesh Yadav pointed towards the spot as Striker Scott D’Souza stepped ahead to take the following penalty.

The number 10 made no mistake as he comfortably placed his penalty in the back of the net to level the score. UBI’s Substitute Bryce Miranda made a terrific impact after coming on as wrecked havoc on the left flank with his quick feet and pace.

In the stoppage time, Bryce cut aside from the left flank and delivered a dangerous ball across the goal to find Dion Menezes, who tapped in from close range to snatch all three points from their counterpart Western Railway. The curtain raiser of the Elite Division itself proved to be the thrilling match, surely, it’s a first of many.

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In the semi-finals, Indian Navy defeated Central Bank of India (CBI) 5-4 on penalties, whereas, Western Railway edged past Mumbai Strikers 1-0, courtesy of Lineker Machado’s strike which set up an Indian Navy and Western Railway final, yet again.

Indian Navy started off brilliantly. They could have scored within five minutes itself when Lalchhumawia found Hari Krishna with a pinpoint long ball, the latter setup Bipaka Thapa who hit his effort just wide of the right-hand side post.

Four minutes later, the defending champions finally opened the scoring through Britto PM. The number 9 superbly lobbed over Western Railway Goalkeeper Jagroop Singh to put Navy in front.

A few minutes later, Lalchhumawia setup Hari Krishna who made no mistake as he slots past Jagroop to make it 2-0 inside the first twenty minutes of the final. The holders went into the break with two goals advantage.

In the second-half, Western Railway dominated their counterparts for the first ten minutes. They soon cut short the deficit through Somi PT’s deflected goal. Striker Reuben D’Souza rolled the ball towards Lineker Machado whose powerful shot was saved by Vishnu V.K, only to fell in Somi’s path. The midfielder deflected shot went past the hapless goalkeeper as Western Railway finally scored.

But Navy came back strong. Britto PM assisted Benno which made it 3-1 just before Biplab assisted Sarbjith Singh to increase their lead by three goals. Western Railway started to crumble in front of a brilliant Indian Navy side.

The fifth and final goal was, unfortunately, an own goal when Western Railway’s defender Raju Singh found his own net.

In the end, it was Indian Navy who comprehensively manage to defend their title. Their 4th title in last five editions. For his spectacular performance, Navy’s Britto PM was adjudged as the player of the tournament.

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It was a reminiscent of last year’s Independence Cup when the match had to be separated via penalties. Ravikant Naidu opened the scoring through a spectacular volley in the 16th minute, it was undoubtedly one of the best goals of the Tournament.

Indian Navy fought back through Anoop Pauly’s goal in the 26th minute. Both the team had their chances but couldn’t convert it.

Just before Ravikant’s volley goal, teammate Merwin Stephen too tried from distance but his powerful volley was comfortably saved.  Indian Navy’s Abhishek Joshi suffered a horrible injury when he landed awkwardly on his right hand, he was straightaway substituted by the coach.

The match went into penalties where Indian Navy’s Bhaskar Roy made couple of tremendous saves.  Somi P.T missed a crucial penalty for Western Railways, and few minutes later Prabal penalty was brilliantly kept out by Bhaskar Roy.

Shahir stepped up for Indian Navy and converted it to win Independence Cup 2016 for his side. Captain Raman Rai received the glittering trophy to add yet another prestigious trophy in Indian Navy’s cabinet.

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RCF kicked off the match starting from right to left. But the first build up of the game was from Western Railways in the 2nd minute when number 7 Anil Pawar fired his shot over the top. At the other end there was a corner for RCF which was taken poorly, a chance wasted. The breakthrough came in the 7th minute when there was a link up between number 29 Saheb Singh and number 14 Clayton D’Souza with Saheb putting a wonderful cross into the box from the right. And it was numbner 10 Ravikant Naidu who timed his run perfectly well slotting home in the right bottom corner giving Western Railways the lead. It became an end to end game after the goal but both teams looked shaky in defense. RCF got yet another freekick which was taken deep into the box only for the ball to be cut back over the top allowing W.Rly to clear, another chance wasted. The match witnessed a rise in the tempo as RCF saw some possession in their favour onnly to register 1 shot on target in the first half. W.Rlys had 6-7 shots on target. At half time Western Railways lead 1-0.

The second half saw RCF come out a rejuvanated team. They were quick to pounce on loose balls and start counter attacks. The equalizer came in the 49th minute just four minutes into the second half. RCF won a freekick at the edge of the box which was taken exceptionally well by number 14 Kenneth Dessena firing home into the right top corner. 1-1 GAME ON!! From then on both teams were really strong in the middle of the park playing a pressing game not allowing the opposition any time on the ball. In the 4 minutes that followed the equalizer RCF had 3-4 chances which were blocked by the W.Railways defenders. In the 61st minute Kenneth Dessena took a brilliant shot at goal only for the keeper to palm it over the top keeping the score 1-1. There was dip in the tempo of the game for a period of 15 minutes. Any chance of a winner on this was a straight no with both teams shutting out each other in front of goal.

At fulltime the game ended 1-1 with both teams sharing a point. A game which could have gone the way of Western Railways shifted on the side of RCF which later ended in a 1-1 draw. Both teams would be disappointed at not taking their chances to score the winner.

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Reuben D’Souza struck brace whereas Linekar Machado, Anil Pawar and Ravikant Naidu scored apiece for the Westerners. Meanwhile for Central Railway, Rashid Shaikh and Karim Shaikh got on the score sheet, which proved not more than consolation goals.

Western Railway got an early lead when Striker Reuben D’Souza volleyed home on the 6th minute. The volley was good enough to bury into the back of the net. Although Central Railway replied in their own way on the 19th minute when Striker Rashid Shaikh found himself at the end of a beautiful strings of passes, who showed great composure in the box went on to level the score with a sweet finish.

But Western Railway struck back a minute later to restore the parity. Ex Shillong Lajong attacker Linekar Machado scored a scorcher from distance as his shot went past the hapless goalkeeper into the back of the net. The free flow attacking football by Western Railway proved too superior for Central Railway.

Western Railway’s Somi almost scored on the brink of the first-half, not once but twice. His powerful shot from outside the box whispered past the left hand post just before his looping header sailed over the bar. But just when Central Railway thought they are gaining the momentum, Western Railway scored another.

Anil Pawar found Reuben D’Souza across the goal with a low cross, who comfortably poked the low cross into the empty net to give Western Railway a 3-1 lead at half-time.

Western Railway continued their impressive form in the second-half as on the 46th minute Anil Pawar brilliantly chipped over Central Railway’s goalkeeper Shibu to put the tie to bed. It got worse for Central Railway 15 minutes later when Ravikant Naidu tore apart the defense on his own and scored a wonderful goal to add Western Railway’s 5th goal of the evening.

Central Railway’s Karim Shaikh cut short the deficit to three goals 9 minutes later but it hardly made any difference as Western Railway enjoyed a memorable 5-2 win over their rivals.

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Western Railway’s Saheb Singh opened the scoring on the 22nd minute, but Indian Navy soon qualized in the first-half through GTK Sharma.

A terrible goalkeeping error made both the outfit concede in the second-half as Somi and Lalchhuanmawia scored quick goals for Western Railway and Indian Navy respectively, leaving both the teams settling for a draw.

The Railways started off brightly with excellent passing and composure which started to pressurized Indian Navy.

Indian Navy’s Captain Raman Rai was booked early in the first-half for a mistimed challenge.

Western Railways kept pressing Indian Navy and in return almost opened the scoring.

Clayton found Kenistan unmarked and delivered a low cross towards the striker. Kenistan tried to slot his shot under the goalkeeper, but Vishnu somehow got a fingertip on it.

Indian Navy’s Raman Rai had a disappointing game. On the 22nd minute, Raman was dispossesed by Western Railway’s Striker Kenistan who rolled the ball towards winger Saheb Singh on the edge of the box.

Saheb turned towards the goal and curled a brilliant right footed shot into the top corner to give Western Railways a deserving lead.

Few minutes later, Clayton D’Souza could have doubled Western Railways lead. His powerful right footed shot whispered past the post.

With two minutes left for half-time, Indian Navy from nowhere equalized.

Lalchhuanmawia provided a glorious ball to GTK Sharma, who placed his left footed shot into the back of the net.

A minute later, Indian Navy could have got the lead but the number 9 Britto somehow blasted his effort over the bar from five yards.

In the second-half, two goalkeeping errors gifted both, Western Railways and Indian Navy a goal each.

With twenty minutes left on the clock, Western Railway’s Somil lashed a loose shot from 20 yards towards goalkeeper’s near post. Vishnu terribly parried it away which gave Western Railways a 2-1 lead.

Although a minuter later, same error occurred in the other half.

Lalchhuanmawia’s loose shot got the fingertip touch of Jagroop Singh and went in the back of the net to once again level the scores.

After the final whistle both the teams had to go away with only a point. This draw also stopped Indian Navy’s consecutive winning streak in the Elite division.

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Central Bank of India were back in action after recently beating Dena Bank 2-0. Western Railways were in action after a long time with their last appearance coming in the RCF Premier Cup.

Both teams cancelled each other out in the opening quarter of the game with a few long range efforts the best that both sides could create.

Central Bank came the closest to taking the lead in a first half which had very few things to report, when Hitesh Chodankar struck an absolute belter of a shot at the Western Railways goal, which was brilliantly saved to his right by the Western Railways shot stopper Lalit Parmar in the 26th minute.

Three minutes later, Western Railways thought they should have had a penalty when their striker was blocked by the CBI defender. The inter-Railway champions might have had a case there, but the referee was not in a great position to spot it as he waved to play on, much to CBI’s relief.

It was a cagey affair, with both teams hardly threatening in the remainder of the first half as the teams went to the break at 0-0. The strikers of both teams were caught offside way too many times and both the teams lacked the creativity to make a difference in the scoreline.

But the second half started with a bang as Central Bank of India took the lead just 5 minutes into the second half, as Hitesh Chodankar’s strike flew into the top corner. It was a brilliant striker from the CBI No.7 which gave CBI the all-important lead in a very tight game.

CBI nearly doubled that lead in the 58th minute when a free kick from Johnson D’Silva was acrobatically tipped away from goal by Lalit Parmar for a corner for CBI.

Western Railways made a substitution in the 61st minute replacing Sadanand Nirmal with Saheb Singh with a view of getting a foothold back in the game which was winging the CBI’s way.

CBI were beginning to create plenty of chances, as Johnson D’Silva’s volley from a corner was punched away from the Western Railways goalkeeper three minutes later.

In the 69th minute, Anil Pawar of the Western Railways forced a fine low save out of Sarfaraz Ansari after he was neatly played in space. The chance seemed to have spurred Western Railways on as they had a bit more swagger in their play.

The improvement in their play was instantly rewarded when, Somi P.T. drew Western Railways level in the 71st minute, after firing home a low cross from their right flank.

The second half was completely opposite the first half, which lacked any kind of goal mouth action. But as the game approached the full time whistle, the fizz went out of the game as both teams weren’t keen to risk the point in hand for all three.

The game ended level pegging as both teams seemed to be satisfied with a point from the day’s work. The draw was the fair result in an overall dull game lacking creativity.

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