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Former I-League side Air India lifted the 110th edition of the Nadkarni Cup with a hard earned 3-2 win over PIFA Colaba FC at the RCF Colony ground, Chembur on Monday afternoon.
The Airmen scored through Pramod Pandey (19′), Pratik Koli (25′) and Aaron D’Costa (45’+2), while Elvis Ozawara, who was named ‘Player of the tournament’, struck both the goals for PIFA, the first in the 41st minute and the second from the penalty spot in the 89th minute.
Air India, who had finished runners-up to Mumbai FC last year, dominated the first half. After some early misses, Air India finally found success when Pramod Pandey headed home from Prakash Thorat’s corner kick in the 19th minute. Six minutes later they doubled the lead when from a swift counter-attack Vijith Shetty charged down the middle before switching the ball across to the right for D’Costa who in turn lobbed over PIFA goalkeeper Pritam Jadhav for Pratik Koli, who was left with the simple task of heading into an empty net.
PIFA seemed unfazed by those two setbacks and fought on. Their hard-working Nigerian striker Ozawara capitalized on a misunderstanding between Air India goalkeeper Debasish Das and his defenders as he pounced on a loose ball and coolly slotted home.
However, PIFA conceded a silly goal in added time of the first half and gave Air India a two goals cushion at the break. Following a poor defensive clearance Thorat intercepted the ball at the edge of penalty area on the right side and pushed it into the path of D’Costa who from an acute angle fired an angular grounder past a helpless goalkeeper Jadhav who had no chance to make a save.
In the second period, PIFA were a transformed side and with the right pep talk for coach Nirvan Shah at the break they played more aggressively and put up a strong fight. Ozawara led the PIFA fightback but he lacked support upfront as they managed to launch a number of attacks on the Air India citadel but without much success.
Air India stopper Anuraj Sidhu who was under tremendous pressure fouled Ozawara inside the area and referee Louis Fernandes had no hesitation in awarding a penalty in the 89th minute. Ozawara stepped forward and comfortably beat goalkeeper Das to the right-hand corner.
In the next minute Sidhu was again guilty of another foul on Ozawara, this time just outside the box and he was shown a second yellow card and subsequently sent off. Ozawara, who had been fouled, was asked to leave the field to receive medical attention and not allowed to take the free-kick, which took PIFA their mst potent weapon in getting the crucial equalizer. But it wasn’t to be and Air India won the game 3-2.
The victorious Air India outfit received the coveted Nadkarni Cup and the winners cash award of Rs 100,000 (1 lakh) from the finals chief guest Britto, the RCF director.
PIFA Colaba were presented with the runners-up trophy and a cash prize of Rs 60,000, while their striker Elvis Ozawara was declared the ‘Player of the Tournament’ and he received a cash prize of Rs 10,000.
