Mumbai : Shahbaz Pathan hogged the limelight by scoring the all-important winning goal in Maharashtra’s 1-0 win against last year’s runners-up Mizoram in a Group-B league match of the 70thNational Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy, conducted by WIFA under the auspices of AIFF, hosted by NDFA and played at the SEC Railway Stadium, Nagpur, on Friday. After a barren first session, Pathan hit the back of the net to clinch a decisive win.
The third successive win for Maharashtra, has virtually assured of a place in the semi-final from this group. Maharashtra, have a match in hand against Services on Sunday. Meanwhile, defending champs Services scored once in each half to overcome Railway 2-1 in another Group-A match played at the University Stadium. Vipin T.V. scored the opening goal in the 14th minute. before Vivek Kumar got the second in the 67th minute to seal Services win. Jagtar Singh scored the lone goal for Railways in the 51st minute. This was the second win for Services, who had earlier defeated J&K 1-0, while Railways suffered their second defeat in three games.