Super sub, Karen Pais scored the all-important winning goal as Mumbai carved out a hard-fought 1-0 win against Pune in the final of the LIC-Maharashtra State Inter-District Senior Women’s Football Championship -2016, organized by MDFA (Mumbai District Football Association) and played at the Cooperage ground, on Friday evening.
: The victorious Mumbai players are seen in jubilant mood as they pose with the winner’s trophy of the LIC-Maharashtra State Inter-District Senior Women’s Football Championship along with Chief Guest, Ms Freyan Bhathena, Editor in Chief, Afternoon Despatch & Courier; Guest of Honour, Mr. Shridhar Pathare, Branch Manager of LIC and MDFA Chairman, Shri Aditya Thackeray.
The former Indian Under-14 captain Karen, who replaced Rita Cassia Ukachukwu in the 41st minute, tapped in the lone goal of the match in the 53rd minute of the 60-minute encounter to help the hosts Mumbai clinch the title.
Thereafter the Pune girls tried their best to find the equalizer and made a number of raids into the Mumbai territory, but the Mumbai defence and goalkeeper Durva Vahia, who is also the coach of the team, did well to ensure their goal remained intact. In the final moments of the game Durva confidently punched away Alisha’s long try and then she charged to the top of the box to foil Muriel Adam who was moving dangerously towards goal. A little later, Mumbai defender Afreen Peerbhoy came up with a timely tackle to once again deny Muriel of having a shy at goal.
Earlier, the Pune outfit showed good understanding and coordination from the outset and created the better scoring chances, but they were unable to hit the target. In the 10th minute, Pune almost took the lead when Muriel’s header off Alisha’s free kick had goalkeeper Durva beaten, but to her dismay the ball bounced back of the horizontal bar.
After the change of ends, Mumbai had their first good attempt at goal when Shruti Lakshmi V.K. header off Juhi Shah’s free-kick was saved by goalkeeper Claire Johnson before Karen was introduced into the game.
The young striker Karen made her presence felt when she tapped in from close after Jyotika Singh’s try was blocked by goalkeeper Durva in the 53rd minute to bring cheer to the Mumbai supporters and teammates.
In the final seven minutes, the Pune side went all out on the attack but their efforts of getting a goal proved elusive.
Results – Final: Mumbai 1 (Karen Pais 53rd) beat Pune 0.