A resilient Catholic Gymkhana maintained their terrific winning momentum and produced another sublime, authoritative performance to outduel Pena Madridista FC posting a 5-1 win and recording their seventh consecutive victory in a Second Division Group-C league match of the Mumbai Football Association (MFA) League 2023-2024, played at the Neville D’Souza ground, Bandra.
Catholic Gymkhana’s Joshua D’Souza (No.19) is congratulated by his teammates after scoring the team’s third goal with a screaming long-footer.
Leading Catholic Gymkhana’s charge to victory was proficient goal-scorer Kaustubh Meher who struck the opening two goals in the third and 12th minute. Later, right wing-back Joshua D’Souza with a screaming long-range right-footer blast dispatching the ball to the top far corner giving goalkeeper Rajeev Kumar no chance to make a save in the 29th minute and ensuring Catholic Gymkhana ended the first session with a healthy 3-0 cushion.
Kaustubh Meher scored the first two goals to set the tone for Catholic Gymkhana’s 5-1 win.
After switching sides, Catholic Gymkhana continued to call the shots. But, Pena Madridista managed to cut the deficit when striker Pranit Gaikwad converted from a contentious and debatable penalty awarded by referee Umesh Patel in the 41st minute.
Catholic Gymkhana took that setback in their stride and scored two more goals through substitute Chaitanya Gund in the 48th minute and central midfielder Bhavesh Meher in the 60th minute to complete the win.
The unbeaten Catholic Gymkhana with 21 points and two more league games remaining are virtually assured of qualifying for the play-off from this group. Bhavesh FC with 19 points and two more games to play are in second place, while Athens XI with 14 points and also two games in hand are placed third.
Results – Second Div: Catholic Gymkhana 5 (Kastubh Meher 2, Joshua D’Souza, Chaitanya Gund, Bhavesh Meher) beat Pena Madridista FC 1 (Pranit Gaikwad).
GKW Rangers 3 (Sanket Malwankar, Sasi Bhaskar, Vishnu Kumar) beat FC Mumbaikar Youth 0.