Mumbai: United Villagers' did everything but score, and a fumble in the 28th minute proved dearly, as they lost to grab the tag of champions in this year's First Division final of the Rustomjee-MDFA League.
At the vintage ground, Cooperage, the venue which has witnessed of the best football in the city, Villagers went down by a solitary goal to Rudra Football Academy to be content with the silver spoon, in this year's edition of the league.
In what could be termed good outing in this league, as the best team in the set up the showdown, it was the Villagers' who had a better says with their old 4-3-3 format against the 4-1-3-2 adopted by their rivals.
When things looked rosy by the Villagers until a fumble in their striking zone. And Siddharth Kamble made no mistake with the resultant penalty, which incidentally proved as the match-winner for Rudra FA.
Villagers United did make amends in the second session. This was evident in their approach, however, they could not penetrate the solid Rudra's defence and the custodian. In one of the close calls, Villager’s Brantino Bottera long-range shot hit the crosspiece before going out.
“We have been winners in II and III divisions and this title is something big for us," said the winning team's skipper Rajesh of the side which went on to register their 24th win in this league and the graduation into the super league.
“When we started in 2013 it was my dream to take the team to super division and I give the credit to my team," said Rudra's coach Ajit Sawant. Meanwhile, D’Souza Football Academy beat Jeevies FC 3-1 via penalty to be crowned as the champions of the Third Division.
Young Guns FC secured the third place in Division I after they won with a narrow margin of 2-1 against Castle Boys SC, while Vipul Gorai FC blanked FC Mumbaikars 2-0 to win the 3rd place tie in the third division.
Results:
First Division: Rudra FA: 1 (Siddharth Kamble) bt United Villager Wel A: 0
Third Place: Young Guns FC: 2 (Owais Khatib, Dharmendra Tripathi) bt Castle Boys SC: 1 (Calvin Pereira)
Third Division: D’Souza FA: 3 (Suraj, Aaron Rebello, Owais Khan) bt (on penalties) Jeevies FC: 1 (Vijay Chavan)
Third place: Vipul Gorai FC: 2 (Kalpesh Sawant, Saurabh Gagare) bt FC Mumbaikars: 0
