Magnificent Melson wins it for St Anne's

Melson Fernandes

Bombay International School (Babulnath) were left spellbound as Melson Fernandes scored four goals and assisted two more to give St Anne's High School (Malad) an 8-0 victory in a Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) boys' U-16 Division II inter-school football match at Azad Maidan yesterday.

St Anne's Melson Fernandes shoots to score a goal against Bombay International School at Azad Maidan on Saturday. Pic/Atul Kamble

The Orlem outfit took the lead in the seventh minute after Vignesh Parab shot the ball from seven yards out into the far post corner. Skipper Aman Anzari extended the lead for St Anne's after pouncing on a pass from Melson from the left flank.

On a rampage
In the second half, capitalising on some weak defending from their opponents, 14-year-old Melson netted from the left flank, tapping the ball into the near corner. In the next 13 minutes, Melson scored three more as he was on the score-sheet in the 33rd, 36th and 40th minute.

A minute later, his pass to Leon Fernandes led to the team's seventh goal. Substitute Raymond John then headed in Bradley Fernandes' cross in the 43rd minute as St Anne's ended the match 8-0.

"We did not perform well in the first half but we came back strongly in the second half as we discussed during the half time break. The boys played according to plan and executed it well. We played as a unit and won," said coach Alex.

Heaping praise on his star player Melson, Alex said: "He is a really good player with great ball control. He is enthusiastic about the game, he can play in any position. Last year he played left back and still scored three goals as we won the U-14-Div II. This year I advised him to play as a striker and he has adjusted to the position."

Melson said, "I started playing as a left winger in today's game but at after half time my coach told me to play as the striker. That's how I managed to score four goals today. I am happy that my coach has confidence in me and I am happy to train under him."

Coach of Bombay International, Abhishek Singh, said, "We lost the game because of fitness, our boys did not play well and the opponents had a better attack than us."

Other results: At Azad Maidan: B-U-16-II: Don Bosco (Borivali) 6 (Mitilesh Kasare 4, Jojimon Tharayil, Kunal Meykar) bt Our Lady of Perpetual Succour (Chembur) 0; The Cathedral & John Connon (Fort) 1 (Misal Mehta) bt Holy Family (Andheri) 0; Utpal Sanghvi (Juhu) 2 (Ayush Ramakrishnan, Nishant Parekh) bt St. Andrew's (Bandra) 1 (Akshay Pardesi); St Xavier's (Fort) 2 (Tejas Shinde ‘2') drew with St Anthony's (Vakola) 2 (Istehkam Shaikh 2)