The final match of the Gentlemen’s Cup was held on 27th October 2016 at the AIL Sports Ground. The teams which qualified for the finals were the league’s top scorers, Super S*x Bombs FC in their lucky yellow jerseys and the very talented Leave My Arselona FC in warming blue jerseys, captained by Rishab Bhatt and Ishaan Saran respectively. This thrilling match was refereed by Amanpreet Singh.
Since the beginning of the match, SSBFC were high on confidence and Path Chopra from their team, scored a goal early in the first half setting the tempo for the game. Trying to place an edge over the match, Rishab Bhatt from SSBFC quickly kicked another goal in the net within few minutes of the goal scored earlier.
As the match proceeded, LMAFC tried to tackle and take control of the ball as much as they could but couldn’t manage to score a goal. Soon the light at the end of the tunnel came for LMAFC when Shiraj placed the ball smoothly in the net bringing the score to one against the S*x Bombs’ two. After a lot of taking turns dribbling the ball, SSBFC took control over the ball and Rishab charged with energy towards the goal and gave his team another point, much to the disappointment of the other team. Just when everyone was preparing for the first half to end, Param Chahal from LMAFC, added a second goal to his team’s tally for the evening, bringing the score to 2-3 by the end of the first half.
Second half of the match proved to be more intense than the first half as LMAFC were just a score away from getting the match to end in a draw, which the other team clearly didn’t want. Ishaan soon kicked the ball into the net, bringing both the teams at an equal score. Rest of the game passed in a blur where both the teams tried to take their score up but couldn’t. The final whistle for the match was blown and both the teams shortly after this, collected near the goal post for the penalty shootouts. Sadly the odds turned against LMAFC as they lost the finals to S*x Bombs, when two of their six tries were stopped by the other team’s goalkeeper, Ankit.
Even though the S*x Bombs were the overall winners, LMAFC had a really different aura around them in this match as they played far better than their previous clash against the S*x Bombs and as they won hearts of the spectators and other players. This match was one of its kind and proved to be every inch of how a final is to be played. All the members of both the teams played with the best of their abilities and made sure they didn’t disappoint their fellow teammates and owners.
All the teams gave in their best and dedication to the league is remarkable. We hope to see the same in the next leg of the league, which will be held in the next year. And with this, the Gentlemen’s Cup came to its end for the session 2016/17 and will be back with same enthusiasm, energy and sportsmen spirit.
The league was covered by Parika Bhardwaj. We thank Parika for her dedication and enthusiasm.
