Don Bosco's boys hit back with a win after MSSA upset

Having lost to St Stanislaus' under-12 team in the MSSA final recently, Matunga exact sweet revenge with a 1-0 win in the final of the Walter D'Souza Memorial tourney

Mumbai: Don Bosco 'A' (Matunga) beat St Stanislaus 'A' (Bandra) 1-0 to win the Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) Olympian Walter D'Souza Memorial boys' U-12 inter-school hockey tournament at the St Stanislaus Ground, Bandra yesterday.


The Don Bosco (Matunga) U-12 team after beating St Stanislaus in the Walter D’Souza Memorial final in Bandra yesterday. Pic/Shadab Khan 

The Matunga School exacted sweet revenge for their 2-4 loss in the final of the Mumbai School Sports Association's knockout tournament earlier this month.

Benjamin Lobo scored the all-important winner in the second-half. Positioned on the left, inside the Stanislaus striking circle, Benjamin received a square pass from Mannan Dang on the right and pushed home for 1-0.

"It feels really wonderful to score a winning goal. We are very happy to win this title as we recently lost against the same team in another final," Eleven-year-old Benjamin said.

The striker said that some words of encouragement from Don Bosco's vice-principal, Fr Roy Noronha motivated the team here. "Fr Roy called the team before we were leaving and said 'do not think about the previous result. Go and give your best. I am sure you'll will win this time.' That really helped us," said Benjamin.

Don Bosco coach Javed Sayed, who was hoisted by his boys on their shoulders after the victory, however felt the margin of win could have been better.

"We desperately wanted to win this tournament. I asked the boys to play aggressively in the first-half and they did that, but they missed a lot of scoring opportunities. I thought we could have won 4-0," he said.

Stanislaus coach George Esteves said: "Winning and losing is part of the game. We cannot win every tournament. But we fought well."

Meanwhile, St Stanislaus 'B' beat Don Bosco 'B' (Matunga) 2-1 via penalty shootout to win third place.

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