Mumbai : Last year’s runners-up Air India faced a mighty strong challenge from Karnatak Sporting Association (KSA) before clinching a close 2-1 victory, which ensured their passage to the quarter-finals, of the MDFA Nadkarni Cup football tournament – 2014.
Merwin Stephen and Wayne Vaz were on target for Air India who went into the break with a healthy 2-0 advantage, while KSA’s Nigerian striker Arihi Uchenna reduced the margin from a late strike.
The former champions Air India did not enjoy a smooth run against their opponents who put up a good solid performance and had an even share of the exchanges in the match.
After some initial probing, Air India finally found success through Stephen in the 41st minute before Vaz doubled the lead scoring the second goal in the third minute of additional period of the first half.
KSA returned with renewed vigour on resumption and went all out in search of goals. But they could only manage to score one goal, which came through the efforts of their hard-working and potent striker Uchenna in the 86th minute.
Thereafter, Air India cautiously defended during the remaining period to deny the KSA attackers from scoring the equalizer to seal the win and confirm their ticket to the next round.
Results – 1st round: Air India 2 (Merwin Stephen 41st. Wayne Vaz 45+3rd) beat Karnatak Sporting Association 1 (Arihi Uchenna 86th).
