Milan Club showed good understanding and strong fighting qualities as they recovered from an early deficit to charge past Maryland United by a 3-1 margin in a semi-final match of the third Borivali Premier Football League (BPFL), conducted by the Borivali Sports Foundation under the auspices of the MDFA and played at the St. Francis D’Assisi High School ground, Borivali (West).
Action during the semi-final match between Maryland United and Milan Club in the 3rd Borivali Premier Football League (BPFL)
In a keenly contested encounter, Maryland stunned the Milan Club citadel when striker Calvin Pereira broke free and hit the target to put his team in the front in the 10th minute.
But, Milan Club players regrouped and got their act together and launched a series of raids at the rival goal and succeeded in finding the equaliser through Narendra Vakare’s strike in the 18th minute and the teams went into the break on level terms at 1-all.
Milan Club put up an improved performance in the second period and scored through Sunny Thakur in the third minute on resumption to take the lead. Later, Ankit Dalvi scored in the final minute to complete the win and seal Milan Club’s passage to the title round. The ‘Player of the Match’ awards was claimed by Vinayan Sakpal of Milan Club.
In the second semi-final, defending champions Fleetfooters SC got the better of ND2 Soccer Starz 6-5 via the penalty shootout tie-breaker after the match finished in a 1-1 draw.
After a barren first half, Soccer Starz broke the deadlock when Ravi Meena found the net in the 50th minute, but their joy was short-lived as five minutes later Fleetfooters who worked hard succeeded in getting the equalizer through K. Pereira strike and take the match to the tie-breaker.
In the tie-breaker, . Fleetfooters converted all five attempt through Nishant Shetty, Grenville Muruzello, Kirk D’Souza, Rohan Jadhav and Ashish Chavan, while Soccer Starz scored only four through Ravi Meena, Dhuval Waghela, Lanster Fernandes and Kingston Pereira. Bunty Dhiman of Fleetfooters was adjudged as ‘Player of the Match’.
Semi-final results: Fleetfooters SC 6 (K. Pereira, Nishant Shetty, Grenville Muruzello, Kirk D’Souza, Rohan Jadhav, Ashish Chavan) beat ND2 Soccer Starz 5 (Ravi Meena 2, Dhuval Waghela, Lanster Fernandes, Kingston Pereira) via the tie-breaker. Full-time: 1-1. Player of the Match: Bunty Dhiman (Fleetfooters SC).
Milan Club 3 (Narendra Vakare, Sunny Thakur, Ankit Dalvi) beat Maryland United 1 (Calvin Pereira). Player of the Match: Vinayan Sakpal (Milan Club).