Former champions Air India conceded an early goal and went down fighting to fancied Ambernath United-Atlanta FC in a Nadkarni Cup 2023 semi-final match organized by the Mumbai Football Association (MFA) and played at the Neville D’Souza ground, Bandra.
In a well-contested encounter, prolific goal-scorer Arif Shaikh scored the decisive winner in the 29th minute to give Ambernath United the lead.
Thereafter, Ambernath United managed to hold to that advantage till the end of the match to emerge victorious and book their place in the final to be played against Bank of Baroda.
Earlier, Mumbai Customs produced a solid performance and handed HDFC Bank a 3-0 defeat after leading 1-0 at the half-way stage. Ajinkya Birajdar, Marc D’Souza and John Coutinho scored a goal each for the Customs outfit.
In a RF Development League match, Iron Born FC proved too good for Kenkre FC and stormed to a fluent 3-1 win. Iron Born scored their goals through Athar Ansari, Warner Samson and Kaushal Kantak, while Kenkre FC were lucky as Yash Sankhe scored an own goal.
RF Development League: Iron Born FC 3 (Athar Ansari, Warner Samson, Kaushal Kantak) beat Kenkre FC 1 (OG-Yash Sankhe).
Elite (Corporate) Div: Mumbai Customs 3 (Ajinkya Birajdar, Marc D’Souza, John Coutinho) beat HDFC Bank 0.
Nadkarni Cup (Semi-finals): Ambernath United – Atlanta FC 1 (Arif Shaikh) beat Air India 0.