AIFF Media Team

NEW DELHI: It is raining All India Football Federation U-16 Navi Mumbai Academy Boys at the U-19 I-League Final Round in Jamshedpur. On the day, Tata Football Academy won handsomely. But what would encourage the youngest among the youth in the junior League is the fact that they gave their more experienced older counterparts, seven of whom were TFA Elite Academy Boys, a run for their money.

Skipper Udanta Singh led the surge with a hat-trick as Tata Football Academy (TFA) registered a 4-1 win over AIFF Academy, Navi Mumbai in a Round Two encounter of the AIFF Under-19 I-League at the JRD Stadium, Jamshedpur.

TFA, who drew 0-0 in their opener against East Bengal two days earlier, were quickest off the blocks and opened the scoring barely minutes after kick-off. Udanta Singh, getting the better of two defenders at the edge of the penalty area, unleashed an unstoppable shot into the bottom corner to make it 1-0 to the hosts.

The lead was doubled in the 43^rd minute when Udanta broke the offside trap with a well-timed run and beat the advancing goalkeeper with a far-post finish.

On to the 58^th minute and goal-scorer turned provider when Udanta shook off his marker with a piece of individual brilliance inside the box and squared the ball across the face of goal for Samrat Chaudhary, who placed the ball into the back of the net.

The AIFF colts, who were never  bogged down reduced the arrears in the 65^th minute when Shabaz Khan’s cross from the right wing forced a full length save by the TFA custodian and winger Suman Sarkar was at hand to strike home from the rebound.

The hosts restored their three goal lead in the 67^th minute. Udanta Singh took on three players before placing the ball past the keeper and into the back of the net for his hat-trick.

As the referee signalled for full-time, Tata Football Academy had recorded their first win of the campaign and provisionally moved up to first place in the standings with four points from two games. With three rounds of league games still to go, the AIFF youngsters – with three points to their credit from the opening two games - still have an opportunity to bring their campaign back on track.