PUNE, Feb 15: Vincent's Old Boys Association (VOBA), aided by a defensive lapse mid-way into the second-half, managed to scrape past Brothers Union and advance in the Dr SWV Fredricks hockey tournament for juniors at the PCMC Poligras Stadium, here today.After sharing a goal each, via Clement D'Souza (VOBA) and Mayur Urde (Brothers Union), till the 40th minute, Gorden Atkins sealed Brothers Union's fate with an opportunistic strike utalising the lethargic clearance by defender Prakash Salunke. Schemer Leo Cardozo, playing a pass from the edge of the 25-yard line, found to his surprise, the defender miss the clearance. In a bid to clear Prakash lost the ball to unmarked Gorden, who did well to beat 'keeper Nasir Sheikh who otherwise did an outstanding job.Earlier, both VOBA and Brothers Union matched each ones capabilities - with the occasional miss and close calls at either ends. Nine minutes into the first-half VOBA were the first to get on the scoreboard. Gorden moving on the left flank, switched the move with a powerful drive. At the other end, unmarked Clement trapped well and beat the 'keeper with a crisp drive.Into the last five minutes of the half, Brothers Union levelled terms. A stray move on the right, by Prashant Salunke, ended up with Mayur Urde deflecting the ball home leaving custodian Sagar Desmond no chance.With, Gorden slotting the second goal, VOBA almost netted another after Patrick D'Souza missed a sitter when the former did the spadework, slipping in a pass through defenders Mangesh Urde and Sachin Bidkar.Earlier even a fresh coat of paint for the stadium failed to brighten proceedings, as the ties turned out to be a dull and one-sided, in the matches played before.Benefitting most were Champions and Kids XI who scored an identical 3-0 wins over Vandemataram and Line Boys' (Sappers), respectively.Kids faced a stubborn opposition and despite forcing two penalty corners in the first session managed to score once. In the 34th minute, Kaustub Shirke had his flick inches from the goalline, run past the gaping defence comprising of Pravin Dhere, Arif Sheikh and Nilesh Kadam and keeper Mahinder Singh, to see Sachin Sawant run in and tap home.The score could of been 2-0 had Shridhar Kulkarni's rasping drive not been blocked by Mahinder when the game was just ten minutes old.Changing ends, Sachin returned Kaustub's favour, putting him in the clear, which resulted in a goal in the 54th minute of play.The final strike was scored off Kids fourth penalty-corner in the 56th minute. An indirectly negotiated corner saw Shridhar's push rebound off the keeper's pads to Kaustub, who made no mistake.The tourney opener saw Champions Sports Club find the net via Gitesh Sawant (13th), Vishal Puttol (38th) and Sandeep Rasankar (44th) against Vandemataram.
