Nilesh makes MIT’s day

PUNE, Sept 27: A ground resembling a paddy field on the eve of a final was no way to end a tournament. The poor conditions at the ILS Law...

PUNE, Sept 27: A ground resembling a paddy field on the eve of a final was no way to end a tournament. The poor conditions at the ILS Law College ground saw Mahararashtra Institute of Technology (MIT) cling on to a Nilesh Natu strike to down Institute of Management Education and claim the IME Inter-Collegiate Invitational soccer title today.

IME began in style and attacked from the start. The attacks were more of skimming movements, that traversed deep into the MIT half.

At places the ball hardly travelled, leaving both the teams struggling.

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To make headway into their rival halves. Moreover MIT did make an all-out attempt to play organised football, but found the IME defence tough to break. After repeated efforts Nilesh, got the break-through in the 23rd minute through a free-kick won by MIT. The kick taken by Mandar Tamhane yards outside the box found the well positioned Nilesh head home past the advanced goalkeeper Sourabh.

In the second-half IME down 0-1, tried to unsettle the MIT defence with constant through passes which fritter away as MIT played a defensive game.

Forcing the pace, the MIT goal had right-out Ranjit Thite (IME) chance his foot, with a resultant of going over the bar.

IME played overconfidently towards the end as their players were more individualistic, to no avail.

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Nilesh Natu (MIT) was awarded the Best All Round Player of the tournament, while the Best Striker award went to Shishir Shroff (MIT), Best Mid-Fielder: Mahesh Naik (Symbiosis Arts & Commerce), Best Defender: Abel (IME), Best Goalkeeper: Ashwin Ghambhir (MIT).

Teams
MIT: Ashwin Ghambhir, Rahul Patki, Raghunandan C, Niranjan G, Nilesh Natu, Mandhar Tamahane, Amar Patil, Amit B, Shishir Shroff, Kedar S, Chetan Chavan, Yogesh Natoo, Dashyant B, Waman M, Richmond N.
IME: Sourabh, Abel, Harjot Singh, Rohit Rathi, Ranjit Thite, Sagar, Harjeet Singh, Rajesh Bhosale, Ravi Shetty, Anand Patkar, Steven D’Souza, Vikram Shetty, Ranjit Pandit, Ketan Gala, Ketan Bhat.