Century Rayon had to work hard for their narrow 1-0 win against promoted outfit HDFC Bank in an Elite Division match of the MDFA Leagues 2018-2019 and played at the Cooperage ground on Sunday evening.
U Mumba team
HDFC making their debut in the big league put up quite a strong challenge and created the better the chances. They could have done better had their strikers been more accurate with their finishing and capitalized on the opportunities that came their way, they could have easily won the match. HDFC’s ace sharpshooter Ramesh Singh was guilty of wasting at least three easy chances inside the opening 15 minutes and that was their downfall.
Meanwhile, Century Rayon having survived those anxious moments seized the advantage when midway through first period striker Thoichan Singh found the mark beating the HDFC goalkeeper Prakash Chavan from close in the 19th minute.
Thereafter, Century Rayon defended resolutely and managed to hand on to their to emerge victorious.
In another Elite Division encounter, U. Mumba FC riding on the double strikes from Digvijay Singh and Karan Kapoor romped to a 6-0 win against Salcette FC at the Mumbai Football Arena on Sunday afternoon. Nishant Shetty and Leander Dharmai chipped in with the other two goals.
U Mumba FC playing their first match looked like a solid unit right from the start and Nishant Shetty made their intentions clear by opening the scoring in the 9th minute. Though U Mumba enjoyed long spells of possession, they had to wait till the dying minutes of the first half before consolidating their lead through Digvijay Yadav and going into the break with a 2-0 cushion.
Resuming from where they had left, U Mumba increased the lead in the 51st minute through Karan Kapoor and Leander Dharmai made it 4-0 in the 81st. Digvijay got his brace in the 87th and Karan his second goal in the 90th to complete the 6-0 rout.
Results – Elite Div: Century Rayon 1 (Thoichan S.) beat HDFC Bank 0.
U Mumba FC 6 (Digvijay Singh 2, Karan Kapoor 2, Nishant Shetty, Leander Dharmai) beat Salcette FC 0