New Star shine, MSP disappoint

PUNE, June 2: Maharashtra State Police (MSP), Mumbai and New Star (Miraj) extended their stay in Pune winning their ties in the Kishorila...

PUNE, June 2: Maharashtra State Police (MSP), Mumbai and New Star (Miraj) extended their stay in Pune winning their ties in the Kishorilal Memorial Football tournament at the Ghorpuri Military Ground here today.

While MSP, sporting four players from Pune, drew the cheers while scoring a 2-0 win over Shivajians, it was the team from Miraj who dished out a well-balanced game to beat Old Boys Association (OBA) 2-1.

City Club walked into the quarter-finals as New India Assurance, Mumbai, left the organisers the KP XI in a lurch by crying off at the last moment.

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Today’s victors seal quarter-final spots. The State cops take on their counterparts State Reserve Police Force Group I and the Miraj side will clash with another local outfit PDFA senior league champions Deccan FC XI.

Incidently both winners scored their goals in the first session of play leaving their rivals a large gap to bridge in the second half. However, OBA managed to pull one back.

Shivajians have a tale of missed chances to tell. There were at least three for the asking. Fahim Shaikh scored both goals for MSP. He drew first blood in the 8th minute after being fed by local player Suryakant Kamane.

He scored another in the 29th minute from the penalty spot after Shivajians defender Ranjeet Walvekar handled the ball. Referee Ambrose Anthony had not hesitations in signalling the award.

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MSP’s vociferous instructions to each other on the pitch did not match their display in a disappointing show by the police side which feature in the Mumbai Senior Division league.

Shivajians’ delaying tactics appeared to throw the policemen off gear. It did much to affect their rhythm best indicated by three good opportunities wasted in the area.

Cerdic Fernandes, who spearheaded their attack, came up a cropper in front of goal and substitute Kunal Chakarnarayan on the left flank was off colour as well.

New Star did much to compensate the large crowd, hugely disappointed by MSP’s lack-lustre show. They combined well and their frontliners, Mehaboob Shaikh, Satish Agarwal and Sachin Ghavande provided the sparkle missing in the city for quite some time.

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The Miraj side displayed clean soccer without compromising on a tough game and they scored two quality goals.

On a counter-attack Satish Agarwal latched on to a ball following an OBA corner. He outpaced a couple of defenders before centering for striker Mehaboob to score with a simple tap in the 13th minute.

Four minutes later, Mehaboob’s run on the right flank led to Sachin Ghavande giving the finishing touch.

Hendry Romel reduced the margin for OBA.

Today’s fixtures: New Star Miraj vs Deccan FC XI 2.30 p.m; Rangehills vs City Club 3.30 p.m.