Nagpur ‘heads’ into quarters – The Hitavada

 
 

 Sports Reporter :

Three goals, all coming through headers, helped Nagpur district storm into the quarter-finals of the ongoing Maharashtra State (WIFA) Inter-District Football Championship for Junior Boys being played at Mukesh R Patel School, Tande, Shirpur in Dhule.
High on confidence Nagpur defeated Akola 3-1 to book quarter-finals berth.
With three wins from as many games, Nagpur will now lock horns with defending champions Mumbai on Saturday morning. Being title holders, Mumbai got direct entry into the quarter-finals.
According to reports, Nagpur forward line took only five mintues to get into the groove as a free kick in the 5th minute helped Nagpur shatter the rival’s defence.

A beautiful free kick from Kaushik Meshram rebounded from the cross bar and ballooned in front of a lurking Akshay Pandey who calmly headed the ball home to give Nagpur the much needed lead.
Nagpur changed ends with a slender but confidence boosting 1-0 lead. Ten minutes into the second half, captain Humayl Sheikh timed his jump well to head the ball into the net to make it 2-0. Moses Joseph took the free kick from over the box which landed perfectly above Sheikh who gave the finishing touches.
A determined Nagpur added another to their kitty in 65th minute with skipper Sheikh scoring his second and team’s third goal again through a header from the long aerial pass of Priyanshu Pal. Akola reduced the margin through Mohd Mirza’s 67th minute goal.
Nagpur team is coached by Shahid Ansari while Dayanand Singh is manager.