Riding on Shardul Deshmukh’s heroics under the bar, Thakur Public School (Kandivli) beat Don Bosco High School ‘B’ (Matunga) 4-3 in a thrilling tie-breaker to book a spot in the quarter-finals of the boys U-16 Division-II Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) inter-school football tournament at the Wings Sports Centre, Bandra, on Monday.

Both sides had their chances to break the deadlock in regulation time. Arnav Singh’s first-half strike for Thakur narrowly missed the target, while Don Bosco’s Aryan Parab tested the goalkeeper with a strong attempt that was kept out by Shardul.

In the tie-breaker, Shardul proved to be the difference with two crucial saves. The Thakur custodian first dived to his right to block Jordan Fernando’s opening penalty and later guessed correctly to his left to stop Amit Pal’s attempt.