Powered by Amey Bhatkal’s brilliant hat-trick Air India Under-19 in grand fashion rallied to turn the tables on Mumbai Strikers in a Super Division semi-final match of the District Football Association (MDFA) league 2015-2016, and played at the St. Xavier’s ground, Parel on Saturday.
After Akshay Devadiga successfully converted a penalty in the seventh minute to give Mumbai Strikers and early advantage, the young Air India colts produced a determined second half fight back and scored four goal during this period to comfortably land into the final.
Leading Air India’s charge was Amey who struck his first goal in the 50th minute and then hit the target once again in the 62nd minute before completeing his hat-trick in the fifth minute of additional time of the match. Earlier, Amey’s teammate Jay Sahani netted the second goal in the 55th minute.
The second semi-final, between Maharashtra State Police and Dena Bank will be played at the Goans Sports Association ground, Cross Maidan at 3.00 pm.
Result –Super Div semi-final: Air India Under-19 4 (Amey Bhatkal 50th, 62nd, 90+5th, Jay Sahani 55th) beat Mumbai Strikers 1 (Akshay Devadiga 7th).