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In a flash of brilliance, striker Chhagan Chavan struck a quick hat-trick, which enabled Sachivalaya Gymkhana get the better of Maratha United in a well-contested Division-II match of the Mumbai District Football Association (MDFA) league, played at the St Xavier’s ground, Parel on Monday.
In a contest between two sides, who were evenly matched there was plenty of action at either end as both started off on an attacking note. Maratha United were the first to find success and opened the scoring through Sunil Murali in the very fourth minute.
But it did not take Sachivalaya too long for to neutralize the lead as Chavan hit the target two minutes for his first goal. Seven minutes later Chavan was again in the thick of action to net his second before completing his hat-trick with another fine goal four minutes later and put his team in a commanding position.
Maratha United trailing 1-3 fought on gamely but could only manage one goal through the efforts of Steven Fernandes in the 37th minute and had to end up on the losing side.
Earlier in a Division-III play-off encounter, Chheda Nagar put it across Kingston FC by a 3-1 margin. Sankalt Menon, Nitesh Sarmalkar and Niket Shah scored one goal apiece for the winners while Kingston reduced the margin through Akash Singh.
Results:
Div-III play-off: Chheda Nagar SC 3 (Sankalt Menon, Nitesh Sarmalkar, Niket Shah) beat Kingston FC 1 (Akash Singh).
Div-II: Sachivalya Gymkhana 3 (Chhagan Chavan 3) beat Maratha United
2 (Sunil Murli, Steven Fernandes).
