MYJ (Mighty Young Joe) Sports Club emerged champions as they carved out a hard-fought 1-0 win against a spirited Kerala Veterans in the second Veterans League final organized by the Mumbai Football Association and played at the Neville D’Souza ground, Bandra on Sunday.
The outstation Kerala Veterans outfit showed plenty of promise from the start. The visiting players combined well as a team and enjoyed more ball possession as they created better scoring chances, but failed to land the knockout punch or beat MYJ custodian Sanjeev Verma who made some timely saves.
MYJ fought on gamely and made a couple of forays into the Kerala territory, but could only manage a couple of unsuccessful attempts at the Kerala goal.
MYJ's charge in second-half
However, MYJ came out all-charged after the break and immediately stunned the Kerala citadel when Trilok Singh capitalized on a defensive lapse to score the decisive winning goal in the seventh minute of the second half.
Thereafter, the MYJ defenders put up a dogged performance and foiled all the attempts from the rival strikers to ensure his team hung on to their lead and came out victorious.
The winning team MYJ Sports Club team received the champions’ trophy and a cash award of Rs 50,000 from Chief Guest Mr. Hamid Sharifi, Consulate General of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The losing finalists Kerala Veterans were presented with the runners-up trophy and a cash prize of Rs 30,000.
Results – Veterans semi-final league:
MYJ Sports Club 1 (Tirlok Singh ) beat Kerala Veterans 0.
Individual awards – Best Goalkeeper: Sanjeev Verma (MYJ Sports Club).
Best Defender: Wilson D’Souza (Golden Gunners)
Best Midfielder: Trilok Singh (MYJ Sports Club).
Best Forward: Naushad P. (Kerala Veterans).
