Iron Born FC worked hard and managed to overcome a strong challenge from Kapana FC to record a fighting 3-2 victory in an absorbing Men’s Super-Division match of the Mumbai Football League 2022-2023 and played at the Neville D’Souza ground, Bandra on Friday. Rakesh Rathod scored two goals and Pratyaksh Shetty got one for the winners, while Rohan Giri struck both the goals for Kopana FC.
An Iron Born player (left) is challenged by a Kopana FC player for ball possession during their Men’s Super-Division match at the Neville D’Souza ground, Bandra on Friday.
In another match, ICL Youngstar FC produced a late charge scoring three goals in the final seven minutes to register a come-from-behind 3-1 win against Millat FC to take all the three points.
In an evenly contested encounter, Iron Born snatched the ascendancy when striker Shetty struck the opening goal of the match in the 43rd minute to give his team a slender 1-0 half-time lead.
Both teams continued to press forward in search of goals and once again Iron Born found the back of the Kopana net when Rathod scored the first of two goals in the 68th minute and doubled the lead.
Kopana kept fighting and managed to reduce the deficit with Giri hitting the target in the 84th minute before Iron Born struck their third goal yet again through Rathod’s efforts in the 87th minute to maintain their two-goal advantage. Not prepared to give up the fight, Kopana managed to score their second goal through Giri in the second minute of the additional period.
Later in the day, ICL Youngstar staged a solid fightback as they rallied from a 0-1 first half deficit to snatch a satisfying win. Against the run of play, Millat FC took the lead through Beg’s strike in the 26th minute.
ICL Youngstar seemed to have saved their best for last as they hit the target thrice in the final minutes of the match to complete the win. Bangar scored the equalizer in the 83rd minute before Sourav V. added the second in the 89th minute to put Youngstar in the lead. In the first minute of added-on time Kulkarni fired home the third goal to help ICL Youngstar secure a deserving win.
Results – Super Div: Iron Born FC 3 (Rakesh Rathod 2, Pratyaksh Shetty) beat Kopana FC 2 (Rohan Giri 2).
ICL Youngstar FC 3 (Amol Bangar, Sourav V., Rohan Kulkarni) beat Millat FC 1 (Anas Beg).