By PIFA Sports Media
MUMBAI: A fantastic second-half from a 10 men PIFA Colaba saw them making an incredible comeback against DSK Shivajians after coming back from 1-0 down to win 2-1 in their U-15 Youth League Maharashtra Zone match at DSK Dream City Ground, DSK on Sunday evening.
Piyush Voshi opened the scoring for the host on the brink of the first-half. Prasheel Dhavre equalized for PIFA Colaba before Ranjang Tamang’s header late in the second-half sealed the match for the visitors.
PIFA Colaba had a bright start. They needed less than ten minutes to test DSK Shivajian’s goalkeeper Shrihari Jadhav, although the goalkeeper saved both of the shots fired at him by Akash Jadhav and Aniket Panchal.
PIFA Colaba had tons of chances in the first-half, but their poor finishing were letting them down for throughout the first fourty five minutes.
Soon PIFA Colaba had to pay for their poor finishing as the host took the lead on the 45th minute, when Piyush Voshi quickly pounced on Adnan Syed’s effort which rattled the bar and fell into Piyush’s path.
The host went into the break with a 1-0 lead, but they were not aware of PIFA Colaba’s second-half plans.
PIFA Colaba players got fired up in the break, courtesy of their head coach Nagesh Swami’s pep talk.
Just three minutes into the second-half, PIFA Colaba almost scored the equalizer when Prasheel Dhavre saw his shot just wide off the right hand post.
PIFA Colaba’s hard work finally paid off in the very next minute when Prasheel Dhavre’s right footed shot deflected off DSK Shivajian’s Arjun Ranade and got burried into the right bottom corner.
On the 77th minute, PIFA Colaba’s defender Aniket Vayadende was shown his marching orders after he received second yellow card of the game, leaving the visitors down to 10 men.
PIFA Colaba’s Ashraf Arshad got the chance of the match to put them in front, but somehow Ashraf failed to convert his chance infront of a empty net as his low shot whispered past the post.
Seeing the visitors down to 10 men, the host DSK Shivajians started to grab a late winner but it backfired them when the match went into its dying minutes.
PIFA Colaba’s Ashraf Arshad improved from his early blunder when he put a low cross into the centre of the box which met Prasheel Dhavre, the number 9’s right footed shot was kept out by DSK Shivajian’s Shrihari Jadhav but Ranjang Tamang quickly pounced and headed it home to make a historic comeback for the visitors.
Ranjan Tamang could have doubled PIFA Colaba’s lead, but his shot struck the left hand post in the stoppage time.
The Mumbai based club held their nerves in the last minutes with only 10 men to register a memorable win.
Head coach Nagesh Swami’s and Assistant coach Ruxton Vaz’s pep talk did proved to be inspirational.
