Glory for Gokuldham

MUMBAI, AUG 26: Gokuldham, Goregaon, captured their first-ever title when they pipped Fatima, Vidyavihar, 3-1 via the tie-breaker in the ...

MUMBAI, AUG 26: Gokuldham, Goregaon, captured their first-ever title when they pipped Fatima, Vidyavihar, 3-1 via the tie-breaker in the under-14 Division III final of the MSSA-Colgate Inter-School football tournament at the MSSA-Castrol Schools Sports Centre, Azad Maidan, today.

It looked as though Fatima would clinch the issue when they outplayed their rivals in the opening session.

The Jeffrey Campos-coached Gokuldham, who improved in the second-half, were well-served by chubby Rohit Jhunjhunwala, in particular, and captain Prajapati Sagar in the defence. The two eased off the Fatima pressure with hefty clearances and as such Gokuldham goalkeeper Aayaj Shaikh had a comfortable time beneath the bar. Aayaj was only seriously tested once but Rajdeep Sawant shot straight into the ‘keeper’s hands.

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But fortune smiled on Gokuldham in the spot-kick duel that followed after a goalless regulation time battle. Rohit Jhunjhunwala, Vijayandra Nair and Abhijeet Ahuja converted all the three penalties, whileFatima’s joy after Anmol Kadam had struck the first kick, turned to despair when attempts by Hitesh Kandade, Gaurav Shetty and Rajdeep Sawant all crashed onto the woodwork.

RESULTS

Ahmed Sailor under-16 KO: St Xavier’s, Fort 3 (Rahul Sutar 3 hat-trick) bt Holy Family, Andheri 0; St Francis D’Assisi, Borivli 3 (Adam Alfonso, Aldrin Monteiro, Rakesh Kharekar) bt Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, Chembur 0; Don Bosco, Borivli 5 (Ashish Miranda 2, Jason Pereira, Mayur Chikale, Siddharth Puthran) bt St Mary’s ISC, Mazagaon 0; Our Lady of Remedy, Kandivli 1 (Christopher Fernandes) bt St Joseph’s, Vikhroli 0; Don Bosco, Matunga 2 (Allan Almeida, Nigel D’Souza) bt St Paul’s, Dadar 1 (Faruk Paul).

U-14 Div III Third place: St Xavier’s, Vile Parle 2 (Clinton Chang, Aaron Papi) bt Holy Family, Chembur 1 (Elvin D’Souza).