Zuzart strike steers Shivajians to victory

A last-minute penalty by Shivajians striker Steven Zuzart helped his team edge past a strong Falcons team 1-0 in the KP Jadhav Memorial football tournament organised by the VOBA at the St Vincent's school ground on Wednesday.

A last-minute penalty by Shivajians striker Steven Zuzart helped his team edge past a strong Falcons team 1-0 in the KP Jadhav Memorial football tournament organised by the VOBA at the St Vincent’s school ground on Wednesday.

The Shivajians game was characterised by deft touches,calmness on the ball and a good passing game overall. Falcons on the other hand dominated the game physically but lacked creativity in the midfield. After the game got off to a scrappy start,Falcon had the first chance in the tenth minute when their striker had an open shot on goal. However,the shot was a weak one and the keeper made an easy save. Following this,Shivajians held majority of the possession,but Falcons created more opportunities to score. Both teams,however,lacked quality in finishing. The 22 nd minute saw the Falcon striker take an excellent shot on goal and force a save from the 6-foot plus Shivajians keeper. Immediately after,Shivajians nearly took the lead through skipper Cedric Fernandes when was in on goal. He,however,kicked the ball over the target. The referee blew the halftime whistle soon after and the scores were tied 0-0.

Shivajians started the second half well and midfielder Vidit Tewari,who was off-colour in the first half,stepped his game up and put a delightful pass through to Cedric Fernandes. Cedric volleyed the ball into left top corner only to be denied by the keeper. Falcons responded well to this early onslaught and had a chance of their own.

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The central defender surprised the keeper with a thunderous effort from outside the box,but missed the target by inches. Following this Shivajians won a couple of free kicks from which Tewari delivered good balls into the box but the strikers lacked the quality in finishing. Falcons had a golden opportunity to take the lead when Shanup Nair had a free header in front of goal. His effort sailed over the bar and the scored remained 0-0. Then in the final few minutes of the game,Shivajians scored the winner thanks to the brilliance of striker Steven Zuzart. Zuzart expertly turned his defender and was tripped in the box leaving no doubt in the referees mind but to point to the spot. Zuzart himself took the penalty and converted it with ease. Falcons tried desperately to level things up but in vein.

The referee blew the final whistle and the match ended 1-0.

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