How it all happened:
After some nail-biting finishes on the day of play-offs, it was Parle Ash-kickers who were to meet Parle Dazzlers in the grand-finale of the Parle Premier League Season III. But before the finale, there was an exhibition game played between a team of Soccer Connections and local lads of Vile Parle. There were foreign players in the SC team, mainly from Serbia, Argentina, Africa etc. Although the Parlekars dominated the 1st half, SC managed to score via a stunner to make it 1-0. The Parle team came back with a goal late in the 2nd half but eventually lost out on penalties.
With stands completely full, the exhibition game set the tone for the main game for the day – Parle Ash-kickers vs Parle Dazzlers – both teams facing each other for the 3rd time in this season.
Realising the ultra-defensive tactic wouldn’t work against the Dazzlers, Ash-kickers started the game brilliantly and in complete attack mode. Kunal Kerkar was denied a great goal when he hit the post and after a few minutes, missed a well connected header too, which went just over the bar. For the 1st time in the tournament, Dazzlers looked vulnerable. However, Patrick Mascarenhas (Eventually declared the Best Player of PPL III) dribbled past the Ash-kickers defence to make way for Nickel D’Souza to open the scoring with an easy finish. An Ash-kickers dominated half ended with 1-0 in favour of the Dazzlers.
It was anybody’s game at half-time; that’s what everybody at the ground must’ve thought. But Dazzlers took control of the game with a goal from Patrick in the very first minute after the break. The 2nd half was virtually played in the Ash-kickers’ half who looked to have given away the game as goals came easy for the Dazzlers. Ending the misery for Ash-kickers, Dazzlers won the game with the biggest margin in the entire PPL with 8-0 annihilation. They were the ‘Invincibles‘ this season. Patrick scored a hattrick, with Nickel and Prince Tyson scoring a brace each while Lestor Creado too scored a goal.
The finale was addressed by prominent personalities MLA Krishna Hegde, renowned actor Dalip Tahil, Manoj Laddha and Manoj Sathaye.
Prize Winners of PPL III:
Champions: Parle Dazzlers (Rs.1,00,000)
Runners Up: Parle Ash-Kickers (Rs.50,000)
3rd Place: Parle Messiahs
Best Player: Patrick Mascarenhas (Parle Dazzlers)
Best U-16 Player: Shantanu Mangar (Parle Messiahs)
Best Goal Keeper: Parth Thakker (Parke Mavericks)
Best U-19 to U-21 Player Award: Kunal Kerkar (Parle Ash-kickers)
Best Playmaker: Kunal Kerkar (Parle Ash-kickers)
Best Defender: Kamlesh Nadar (Parle Dazzlers)
Top Goal Scorer: Nickel D’Souza (10) (Parle Dazzlers)
Fair Play Award: Parle United
Best Presenting Team: Parle Ash-kickers
Most Valuable Player: Devendra Joshi (Parle Ash-kickers)
The Parle Premier League Season III was sponsored by: