Falcon, playing well below par suggested by their distressed body language, were duly punished by Rahul Sports Club in the all-Pimpri clash.

Harish Mehra (2) and Deepankar Basu found the net for Rahul Sports Club while Rajeev Raj scored the lone goal for Falcon.

Playing earlier in the afternoon, Cedric Fernandes (2) and Sameer Shaikh scored for Shivajians while Shri Krishna Gaikwad and Shabir Sayyed netted for Range Hill Young Boys.

Falcon could have scored a handsome victory had their forwards been little cautious while taking the goalward strike. Satish Iyer, Prasad Nair and namesake Shanup exhibited some good soccer but their finishing was wayward. They even failed to find the target with the 'keeper out of place.

It was plain to see that all was not well in the Falcon camp. Their re-entry on the field after the breather was fraught with unease, even consternation as they were seen jostling each other. Morale must surely have touched rock bottom.

The dashing Harish Mehra of Rahul made inroads into the Falcon area and Prasad Nair who could have let Satish Nair do the needful, tackled Mehra from behind and referee Simon D'Gama rightly pulled Prasad up for the infringment. Off the resultant free-kick from 22 yards, Harish Mehra beat Sandeep under the Falcon bar to draw level after Falcon shot ahead in the very first minute of play through Rajeev Raj.

Falcon did manage to keep Rahul forwards at bay in the first session of play. It was not to be after the break as Falcon succumbed to their own misdoings.

The team sorely lacks cohesion and it presented opportunties to the rivals on a platter. An accidental handball by Satish Iyer leading to a penalty awarded by referee Simon D'Gama presented Harish Mehra the chance to score from the spot and push his team 2-1 ahead.

Deepankar Basu sealed the issue with an angular grounder to make it 3-0 in the 50th minute.

Falcon suffered their first loss in two matches while Rahul, also playing their second match, notched their first win after drawing with KP XI in their opener.

RHYB fade
Range Hill Young Boys failed to captalise on eight-man Shivajians for the first twenty minutes of play and their gameplan faded when they went down 2-3.

Cedric Fernandes made most of it for Shivajians as he scored twice with Sameer Shaikh chipping in one. Shri Krishna Gaikwad and Shabir Sayyed scored for Range Hill Young Boys.

Range Hills, starting the league well, suffered their first defeat in their third match. The Kirkee team have victories over Phoenix FA and Chetak SC.

Saturday's fixture: SRPF Gr II vs Roopali 4 p.m.