Mumbai Strikers played Byculla United who ply their trade in the Super Division of the MDFA league in a pre season friendly on 28h February, 2014. The game was played under lights and the weather as well as the ground conditions provided a perfect setup.

Coach Firmin of Mumbai Strikers deployed an interesting 3-2-3-2 formation this time. The match was a good platform to put in to practice everything that had been done during training. Byculla United were the welcoming hosts and looked like they meant business.

It was a first half blitz that saw Mumbai Strikers take a 3-0 lead in the opening 15 minutes through 2 headed goals by Ravish Dsouza and one long range effort by Rakesh Patne. Mumbai Strikers were all charged up in preparation towards the season opener. They closed down every pass and gaps intercepting a handful of passes in the midfield. The 2 holding midfielders provided superb cover whenever the defenders were out of place. Byculla United were using the width of the field to attack and tried using the wall pass play at times. Momentum seemed to have shifted towards the last 15 minutes of the game when Byculla United started attacking even more. They managed to pull a goal back from a corner that was neatly headed home by Agnelo Fernandes.

The game ended with a 3-1 score line in favour of Mumbai Strikers. The post match talk saw Coach Firmin point out areas of improvement and applauded the individual effort of Abhijit Shetty in the midfield.