Mixed outing for Vincents

PUNE, Feb 24: The opener of the Super Leagues spelt mixed luck for the hosts in the St Vincent's Invitational Inter School Hockey Tournam...

PUNE, Feb 24: The opener of the Super Leagues spelt mixed luck for the hosts in the St Vincent8217;s Invitational Inter School Hockey Tournament, in progress at their home grounds, here today.

On the positive side were the three points annexed by their under-15 A8217; team after they defeated rivals All Saints High School 3-0. The under-13 St Vincent8217;s A8217; team, however, was held to a goaless draw by St Patrick8217;s, and the two split a point each from the outcome.

The tie between the evenly matched sides 8212; St Vincent8217;s A8217; and All Saints 8212; proved to be fast paced.

The first-half turned out to be a keen affair. The All Saints8217; defence stood up well against Vincent8217;s A8217;, the latter making a number of visits to the rival goal but failing to capitalise on any of them. The first session ended goaless. Seven minutes into the second session Kenneth Morris opened the account for Vincents. The move initiated off a penalty corner by Aditya Jadhav, saw Kenneth approach the goal and in the melee at the goal mouth, he sounded the boards.

Centre forward Joel Patrick brought about the second goal in fine fashion. A hit-in taken from the right was stopped neatly by him within the shooting circle and positioning himself well, he slammed the boards beating rival keeper Aziz Shaikh hands down. Javed Shaikh was shown the yellow card for improper conduct and was sent off the field for ten minutes.

In an unfortunate incident, Ravi Mishra, playing for All Saints, was struck on the head, but the brave lad returned to play after receiving first aid.

Harpreet Singh hammered in the third goal, taking advantage of a defensive lapse, after an accurate pass from Vineet Hingwe. In the earlier match between St Vincent8217;s A8217; and St Patrick8217;s in the under- 13 category, which ended in a goaless draw, the former only had themselves to blame. The Vincent8217;s lads combined well, making all the right moves. Their frontline 8212; Shane Lacroix, Ahad Shaikh, and Vishal Rajput 8212; frequently raided the rival territory, but faltered at the finish. On a number of occasions the ball zipped across the goal line, their forwards failing to halt incoming passes.

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St Patrick8217;s too had their share of missed opportunities when their forwards muffed up the handful of chances which came their way.

Results: u-13: St Vincent8217;s A8217;: 0 drew with St Patrick8217;s; U-15: St Vincent8217;s A8217;: 3 Kenneth Morris, Joel Patrick, Harpreet Singh b All Saints High School: 0.

Today8217;s fixtures: Super Leagues: 3.00 p.m.: U-13: St Vincent8217;s A8217; vs Dastur. 4.00 p.m. U-15: St Vincent8217;s A8217; vs Alegaonkar.