Inter-School giants St Stanislaus, Bandra faced yet another bitter moment after the defending champions in the under-14 category were shown the door by St Lawrence
Inter-School giants St Stanislaus, Bandra faced yet another bitter moment after the defending champions in the under-14 category were shown the door by St Lawrence, Borivali in the quarter-finals of the Mumbai School Sports Association's boys under-14 inter-school football tournament.
Tanishq Shetty's solitary strike ensured the Borivali side a consecutive semi-final berth as they dumped the champions.
They lost out to Don Bosco, Matunga in the semis and eventually ended up fourth last season.
St Lawrence's right forward, Shetty was ecstatic about his side's display against one of the top-ranked teams and wished for a better outing in the semi-finals this time round. "It was a very important game. Stanislaus are one of the strongest teams and they did really well against us, but I think our side was up for the challenge and did well too," said Shetty.
After failing to break the deadlock in the first half, both teams upped their pursuit for the winner, especially the Bandra outfit. On the other hand, their counterparts were happy to sit back and wait for their chance to attack on the counter.
However, their strike was a result of a good build-up of play between their captain, Abhijeet Biswas and forwards Vishal Naik and Shetty to go with some sloppy defending from Bandra side's custodian. Their backline failed to clear a high ball as it went off Shetty's head before rolling into the net.
Considering the fact that it is only their second year in the top flight of inter-school football, St Lawrence have done admirably well against the elite schools of MSSA. Coach Syed Yaseen gave all credit to his young guns claiming that it is their hunger to do well that keeps taking them through. They will play their semi-final on August 30.
ADVERTISEMENT