In the Group ‘D’ encounter played in Shirpur on Wednesday, Nagpur mounted pressure on the hosts right from the third minute by scoring an early goal. Displaying excellent coordination with his teammates, Soham Neware netted a brilliant goal to hand Nagpur a 1-0 lead. Before the opposition could recover, Akshay Pandey doubled the advantage, making it 2-0. Nagpur maintained this lead till halftime.
In the second half, Nagpur shattered Dhule’s hopes of a comeback by scoring two more goals within a span of four minutes. Janay Patel scored the team’s third goal in the 55th minute, while captain Humayal Sheikh struck in the 59th minute to seal Nagpur’s emphatic 4-0 victory.
Nagpur will now face Buldhana in Thursday’s second-round clash. Buldhana had defeated Ratnagiri 3-0 in their opening match.