Parvez strikes in St John’s title win

Amid cheers from the crowd,both the teams took their positions and approached a defensive tactic in the first half. So,the ball remained confined to the midfielders and it was where the real battle began. Whenever the ball came flying towards the defenders,it was sent back with equal force,sending a message to the strikers that it was going to a be tough day for them.

Slowly the forwards found their rhythm and it was St John’s who gained momentum in the proceedings due to some neat work from their midfielders. On the other hand,St Kabir’s boys came agonisingly close to open the account but their in-form striker Yuvraj failed to connect the ball after a superb cross from the left flank in the 26th minute.

After the breather,St John’s boys made constant forays into the opposition area and challenged St Kabir’s custodian Gautam on few occassions.

But a lapse in his concentration changed the face of the match as a surging Parvez directed the ball towards the net after Gautam had failed to hold on to a cross from Manraj. The deadlock had been broken and St John’s were up by 1-0 in the 65th minute. St Kabir’s forwards made desperate attempts to find the equaliser but the St John’s defenders stood their ground and cleared the ball with aplomb.

“It was a tough match. We were defensive in the first half but we switched our gears after the lemon break and got plenty of chances to score. Our keeper Amok Sharma made some good saves and saved the day for us,” said the Class IX player Parvez who is a die-hard fan of David Beckham.

Chandigarh team in last four

Meanwhile,the Government Model High School,Sector 36,reached the semi-finals in the Under-14 Subroto Cup played at New Delhi after defeating Army Boys,Shillong,5-3,in a high-scoring match. Gursimrat,Nishu,Zothan and Samuel were the scorers for the Chandigarh team. Rakesh Sood,principal of the school,praised the team for reaching the semis and congratulated coach Harjinder Singh for his sincere efforts.