Akbar Travels made a huge impact at the Cooperage football ground, defeating a prodigal ONGC 2-0 in the Elite Division of the Mahindra Mumbai Football League.
Central Railway and Union Bank split points in another elite division match
MUMBAI: Akbar Travels made a huge impact at the Cooperage football ground on Wednesday, defeating a prodigal ONGC 2-0 in the Elite Division of the Mahindra Mumbai Football League.
In the earlier match of the same division, Central Railway and Union Bank shared points with a 1-1 draw. Sumesh T gave Central Railway the lead in the 55th minute and Mathais Coutinho equalised for Union Bank in the 73rd.
It was not that ONGC played second fiddle to Akbar Travels, but they just couldn’t score from the chances they created.
Akbar Travels, on the other hand, converted from the moves they stitched together. The hardworking Okwulum Ezekal was at the center of most moves and even scored the second goal for Akbar Travels earning the Nature Valley man of the match award.
Jonathan Bobo gave Akbar Travels the lead in the 3rd minute of the match, capitalising on a defensive lapse to slam the ball into goal from the top of the box. ONGC hit back soon with a few attacks, but Jatin Bisht and Rakshak Naik were guilty of falling short when faced with the Akbar Travels goal.
Into the quarter of an hour, Bisht worked himself into a good position but his powerful shot sailed over the bar. It was then the chance of Rakshak Naik to miss the target narrowly after doing well to get past two defenders and into scoring position.
ONGC suffered a second blow when Ezekal showed canny goalmouth reflexes to latch on to a pass from Shivdutt Rony and score from close.
ONGC did press hard for a goal, but the Akbar Travels defence stood rock solid to protect till the end their first half lead of 2-0. Jatin Bisht managed to come close with his free kick in the 66th minute but Akbar Travels goalkeeper Sabeesh K palmed the ball away.
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