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Defending Champions Minerva Punjab FC defeated prestigious Tata Football Academy in an entertaining final Group D match played at the Cooperage Football Stadium in Mumbai.
Group D had been termed as “The Group of death” with the likes of Maharashtra Zone Champions Kenkre FC, last year Runners-Up Royal Wahingdoh FC and Jamshedpur based Tata Football Academy clubbed together with Minerva Punjab FC.
Both Tata Football Academy and Minerva Punjab FC were tied on equal points but Minerva Punjab FC had the upper hand, thanks to their huge drubbing of home team Kenkre FC 8-0 creating a new tournament history, whom Tata Football Academy only managed to defeat 1-0 at the final whistle.
The match was a display of determination and talent of the Minerva colts who played against all odds to take all three points from the match. The match started off on a fiery note as Minerva’s Arjun scored to five his side the lead in the 20th minute. The score read 1-0 at half time. Few minutes into the second half Tata Football Academy equalised after a one on one with Minerva keeper Bharat Thapa amid shouts of an offside from the defenders but the linesman’s flag stayed down.
The second half saw Tata Football Academy come in with renewed intent and the match got physical. In the 65th minute, a Tata Football Academy player made a run into the box but collided with Minerva’s reliable defender Anwar Ali who was sent off by the referee and pointed to the point to awarded penalty to TFA. Disheartened Minervans were now down 1-2 to TFA and reduced to 10 men.
It looked impossible for them to make a comeback but the defending champions showed what champions are made of and suddenly shifted their game into top gear flooding the Tata Football Academy box with attacks with great urgency and intent with just 10 men on the field. In the 70th minute, they were rewarded when Shahjahan curled in a perfect banana kick from a corner and equalised for Minerva Punjab sending the Chandigarh team into rapture. The score was now 2-2 and it was a situation where the winner would take it all. In the 85th minute Jageet Singh of Minerva let loose a screamer from the half way line on a counter which found the back of the net. Minerva Punjab managed to win the match 3-2 under difficult circumstances to seal their place in the semifinals.
Minervan Punjab FC next play Bengaluru FC in the semifinals on Wednesday, February 8 at 2pm at the Cooperage Football Stadium in Mumbai.
