Amrut Cup – National Kishore Mandal 5-a-Side Football Tournament, London, UK

The Amrut Cup – the National Kishore Mandal 5-a-side football tournament – was held on Saturday 14 September 2013 at Alperton Goals, London. The competition, now in its seventeenth year, welcomed 25 teams from across the country and was enthusiastically played in the spirit of this year’s theme: One Team, One Leader, One Goal.
 

The first phase consisted of the group stages and, as expected, the leading contenders – Leicester B, North London A and Brent A – eased into the knockout stages. They were joined by West London A, East London, South London A, West London B and Harrow A in the quarter-finals. Leicester B set the standards during the group stages as they qualified by winning allof their games, scoring 15 goals without conceding in all three matches. The knockout stages did not produce any surprises as all seeded teams progressed.
 

The first quarter-final brought together two great teams – holders North London A against a very talented Leicester B team,who began nervously but eventually moved into their stride and won comfortably 3-0 to secure a meeting with Brent A in the first semi-final. Brent A seemed to have adopted the same tactics which has seen many teams in the past find success against Leicester – scoring an early goal and defending the lead. Kiran Patel scored the vital goal and the team collectively defended resolutely as a unit against a strong Leicester B attack.
 

The second semi-final was contested between East London and West London A, both of whom were both desperately seeking a place in the final. West London A eventually emerged as winners with goals from Sharad Patel and Vishal Patel steering them to a 2-0 victory and a place in the final.
 

The final brought together Brent A and West London A – two teams who have come close in the past but never won the competition. Both teams started cautiously in a finely balanced match. Bharat Nakarja pulled off a string of terrific saves in goal for West London A, but Brent A finally got the breakthrough with a well-taken goal from Mayur Patel. West London A did not lose heart and, despite the setback, kept probing and pushing in search of an equaliser. Their patience was duly rewarded with a goal from Mayur Nakarja taking the match to extra time. As a penalty shootout was looming, two quick goals from Tapan and Gauranga for Brent A sealed the match.

Congratulations to Brent A on winning their first Amrut Cup title with a well-deserved victory and to Brent B who defeated Milton Keynes 5-1 to win the Nilkanth Cup – a competition designed to allow the third- and fourth-placed teams of the group stages to compete for a trophy.
 

The individual awards were given to Biraj Parmer of Leicester B, who won the Golden Boot with an outstanding tally of 18 goals. Bharat Nakarja of West A won the award for Best Goalkeeper with a series of superb saves in the final. And Vishal Patel of West London Awon the Player of the Tournament award for his outstanding performances that carried his team through to the final.

This proved to be another enjoyable day, made all the more rewarding as everyone played to the spirit of the tournament: One Team, One Leader, One Goal.

RESULTS:

Amrut Cup

Nilkanth Cup