JN Petit, Bishop’s leave no room for error

Then, hoping to make amends in the under-17 final, Loyola’s fought gallantly to reverse a 0-2 deficit but went down 1-2 to JN Petit after coming close to equalising.

Make no mistake, deserving teams won and Bishop’s better penalty taking helped them progress to the next round — the Inter-District Division — scheduled for August 7 and 8 at Loyola’s School ground.

The scores were 1-1 at full-time and an enthusiastic crowd made up of teachers, parents, brothers, sisters, friends and rivals crowded the sidelines in full-throated cheer.

The boys from the Camp school kept their cool to win the shootout 4-2 when centre-back Gautam Jain crowned a fine display during regulation time with the match-winning conversion.

The tall defender responded well to pressure and coolly booted to the goalkeeper’s left before being mobbed by overjoyed team-mates.

Fire-crackers rent the air when JN Petit went 2-0 ahead and the celebration befitted Srikkanth Gawali’s goal.

With his school 1-0 ahead, thanks to Abhijit Owhal’s goal, the sprightly centre-forward burst down the middle before shooting home fluently to the delight of the Petit entourage. But spare a thought for Loyola’s.

The school egged on by its unrelenting fans turned on the pressure. Within seconds mid-fielder Rahul Shetty bundled in a goal to silence Petit fans. With the minutes ticking by another goal looked likely. But frantic saves by Petit, helped by a friendly bounce on one occasion — and the post on another — deprived Loyola’s the equaliser.

Petit coach Nandkumar Angirwal perhaps looked more buoyant than he did after many grueling battles played the length and breadth of the country in his heyday. The former Mafatlal stopper admitted to spending a sleepless night on the eve of the final, working out ways to ensure his team won.

“I told my boys not to worry, play courageously. It’s just what they did today,” Angirwal enthused. Earlier, Bishop’s coach Eugene Pope and manager Ramesh Bhendre coolly praised their boys while excitedly recapping the goal by Rahul Kamble that put their side ahead in normal play.

Kamble blasted home left-winger Ronak Pote’s cross to put his school ahead but Loyola’s Varun Venkat showed that one needn’t have to watch a Zico or Platini to see a well taken free-kick. The centre-back dispatched one high into the net to equalise. Venkat’s good work came to naught in the end when the best player on the pitch on the day, Gautam Jain, ended the day as Bishop’s hero.