Riding on Kastubh Meher’s lone strike, promoted side Catholic Gymkhana Ltd., who despite playing with only 10 players, recorded a commendable 1-0 victory against ESIC in their opening Mumbai Football Association (MFA) Super Corporate League 2025-2026 match at the Karnatak SA ground, Churchgate on Wednesday.
Several of the Catholic Gymkhana players who had confirmed that they would be present for the first league game failed to report at the venue and as such the gymkhana outfit were forced to play with 10 men.
Energetic and hard-working attacking midfielder Kaustubh Meher headed home the all-important winning goal in the seventh minute of the match.
Kaustubh chased a long forward pass and on reaching the rival penalty area took a shot at goal. The ESIC goalkeeper proved equal to the task and blocked the attempt. But, Kaustubh was alert to pounce on the rebound and head into an empty net, much to the delight of his teammates.
Thereafter, ESIC tried their best to find the equaliser, but the Catholic Gymkhana defence and goalkeeper thwarted all their attempts to troop out worthy winners and to snatch a satisfying and hard-fought victory and to collect all the three points.
Result: Catholic Gymkhana 1 (Kaustubh Meher) beat ESIC 0.