St Lawrence two good in MSSA final

Players of St lawrence (Kandivli) celebrate their win over Bombay Scottish (Mahim) in the MSSA U-16 Div I final at the Cooperage. Pic/Atul Kamble.

Riding on Nikhil Parulekar's brace, St Lawrence (Kandivli) beat Bombay Scottish (Mahim) 2-1 to win their maiden Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) boys U-16 Division I title at the Cooperage ground yesterday.

Players of St lawrence (Kandivli) celebrate their win over Bombay Scottish (Mahim) in the MSSA U-16 Div I final at the Cooperage. Pic/Atul Kamble.

The Kandivli school played aggressively on the refurbished astro-turf right from the beginning of the game. Nikhil gave St Lawrence the lead in the fourth minute, scoring off a deflection. He added another goal in the very next minute, making the most of a defensive lapse.

Dikshant Verma scored for Scottish in the 18th minute via a solo effort to bring them back into the game. There was no change in the score-line at the interval, and with both teams squandering opportunities in the second half, St Lawrence emerged champions.

St Lawrence coach Lachman Singh Bisht said the win was a result of a long-term plan drawn up by the school authorities.

"These boys belong to the first batch of children I coached. Being a former Mahindra United captain, I could play and train older people. But teaching football to kids is a different ball-game altogether. Today's result is the effort I put in with the team for the last 10 years."

Collective effort
Bisht thanked the school for reposing faith in him and investing in him to guide the school. "All this wouldn't have been possible without the support of the school authorities - AF Pinto (Chairman) and Grace Pinto (Managing Director). They sent me to London for a level 1 training course in 2007. Today all the hard work has paid off. I must also say that we had a slight psychological edge over Scottish as we beat them 3-0 in the last league match."

Meanwhile, in the Boys U-16 Division II final, St Dominic Savio (Andheri) registered a come-from-behind 4-1 win via tie-breaker over St Joseph's (Wadala) to earn a promotion to Division I.

Other Key U-16 Results
. B-16-I: 3rd Place : Don Bosco ‘A' (Matunga) 3 (Clivert Miller 2, Bryce Miranda) beat St Francis D'Assisi (Borivli) 0

. B-16-II-3RD Place : Swami Vivekanand (Kandivali) 3 (Deep Gada, Kunik Parekh, Manan Sanghvi) beat Navy Children (Colaba) 1 (Abhishek Badalia)