MSSA: Aayush Thakur wins it for Swami Vivekanand

Swami Vivekanand's Aayush Thakur (left) and St Xavier's Hannan Abdul during their Ahmed Sailor tie yesterday. Pic/Suresh Karkera

Swami Vivekanad High School (Chembur) and St Xavier's High School (Fort) were locked in a gruelling battle for supremacy on the slushy ground before the former managed to clinch a 1-0 win in the MSSA boys U-16 Ahmed Sailor knockout pre-quarter-final at the St Xavier's ground, Parel yesterday. Both schools played an open attacking game but were unable to find the net in the first half. Mid-way through the second session, Swami Vivekanand managed to break the deadlock when Aayush Thakur scored from a direct free-kick (28th minute).

"I have scored quite a few goals from set-pieces and was confident of scoring today. I practise this a lot," Aayush told mid-day later. Thereafter, Don Bosco (Matunga) beat Dr Antonio Da Silva 4-3 via the tie-breaker after the match finished 0-0. In the shootout, Don Bosco scored through Aryaan Jhunjhunwalla, Keith Fernandes, Garrick D'Souza and Shriharsh Palli, while the Dadar boys got their goals through Kamran Shaikh, Akshat Shetty and Sameer Shaikh.

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