Central Railway and Indian Navy made winning starts in the MHAL Super League 2017-2018. While Central Railway took off on the right track to tame Maharashtra State Police 5-1 after leading 4-0 at the break, Navy recovered from a first half deficit to put it across Bombay Republicans 2-1 in the earlier match played at the MHAL-Mahindra Stadium, Churchgate on Saturday.
Central were well-served by Brijendra Singh who scored two goals in the 15th minute and 32nd minute while Victo Singh scored the opener in the seventh minute. Rajendra Pawar converted a penalty in the 30th minute for the third goal, while Mohd Nizamuddin added the fifth in the 68th minute. Maharashtra State Police pulled one back through Arun Yadav in the 64th minute.
Earlier, Navy suffered a setback when Darshan Gawkar scored for Republicans in the 21st minute. But the sailors came back strongly in the second period and scored two goals through Amit Goswami in the 41st minute and Prateek Singh in the 56th minute to snatch a win.
Central Railway’s Brijendra Singh and Navy goalkeeper R. Tidu were declared winners of the ‘Man of the Match’ in their respective matches and both received a cash prize of Rs 1,000 each.
There will be no match on Sunday. On Monday, Central Railway meet Bombay Republicans at 2.30 pm and later at 4.00pm Indian Navy take on Maharashtra State Police.
Results: Indian Navy 2 (Amit Goswami 41st, Prateek Singh 56th) beat Bombay Republicans 1 (Darshan Gawkar 21st).
Central Railway (Brijendra Singh 15th, 32nd, Victo Singh 7th, Rajendra Pawar 30th, Mohd Nizamuddin 68th) beat Maharashtra State Police 1 (Arun Yadav 64th).