Santosh Trophy Qualifiers: Advait Shinde rescues Maharashtra against Daman & Diu

Services outclassed Gujarat in the other group A match on Sunday afternoon.

Super-sub Advait Shinde scored in added-time, as Maharashtra secured a hard-fought 1-0 win over Daman & Diu in the Santosh Trophy West Zone Qualifiers 2019-20 group A match at Duler Stadium on Sunday.

On a hot afternoon, Maharashtra started the match on an attacking note, where they had the best chance in the 10th minute, when Nachiket Palav made a low cross to Yash Tukaram Mhatre in the goalmouth, but the forward failed to capitalize on an easy chance.

They had another opportunity in the 24th minute, when they were awarded a free-kick just outside the box, but Maharashtra defender Dion Menezes saw his curling effort timely cleared by Daman keeper Arshad Sayyed.

At the other end, Daman came up with a swift attack in the 27th minute, when their forward Kaiziudinbo Kaurinta made a short pass to his teammate Shivam Yadav, who went for glory from distance, but his strike missed the target narrowly.

Maharashtra replied with a quick counter, as Kamran Ansari nicely dribbled past a defender and shot on the goal, but his fierce shot was brilliantly saved by Daman keeper Sayyed.

Maharashtra once again came close to scoring in the 34th minute, as this time Aman Gaikwad curled the ball into the box to Yash Mhatre, whose header rebound off the crossbar and was quickly cleared by Daman defender Raj Bhoir.

Maharashtra coach Ansari Mohammed Yousuf brought in Pragnesh Solanki replacing Allan Dias at the half-time and the winger brought pace to the game, as he made many darting runs on both wings, but could not change the scoreline.

In between these, Maharashtra had two clear chances to take the lead. But first, N Nikhil Prabhu headed wide off Dion Menezes’ corner, while a few minutes later Yash repeated the actions of his teammate to waste Nachiket’s curling cross.

With just 20 minutes left on the clock, Maharashtra coach Yousuf made another substitution, bringing in Advait to replace the exhausted Niyajahmed Patel in midfield. The midfielder jelled well with another fresh-leg Solanki who put pressure on the rivals.

They had another opportunity in the 89th minute, when substitute Johnson Mathews nicely fed Mhatre in the box with a perfect cross, but the lad saw his goalbound header divingly saved by Daman keeper Sayyed.

However, in added-time, Solanki easily cut past an opponent on the flank and sent a low cross in the box to Shinde, whose shot made space between the Daman keeper and defenders to secure them a solitary goal victory.   

In the early morning match, Services trounced Gujarat by a convincing 7-1 margin. Lallawmkima PC, Sreyas VG and Muhammed Inayath scored braces, while, Novin Gurung scored the other goal for the Services. whereas Mohammed Shoeb Shaikh scored the lone goal for Gujarat.