Bombay Scottish (Mahim), who had famously ended Don Bosco's (Matunga) five-year title run in 2014, got relegated to Division II yesterday after a 0-1 defeat to pool 'B' toppers St Stanislaus (Bandra)
St Stanislaus' Marven Pereira (in yellow) vies for the ball with Bombay Scottish's Bhuveer Kodnani at Azad Maidan yesterday. Pic/Suresh Karkera
Bombay Scottish (Mahim), who had famously ended Don Bosco's (Matunga) five-year title run in 2014, got relegated to Division II yesterday after a 0-1 defeat to pool 'B' toppers St Stanislaus (Bandra) in the Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) U-16 Division I inter-school football tournament at Azad Maidan yesterday.
St Stanislaus' Marven Pereira (in yellow) vies for the ball with Bombay Scottish's Bhuveer Kodnani at Azad Maidan yesterday. Pic/Suresh Karkera
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Before the match, Bombay Scottish stood seventh in the points table, ahead of last-placed Christ Church (Byculla) on goal difference. Christ Church, who were to play St Lawrence (Kandivli) later in the day, had two points from six games — the same as Scottish — but had a poorer goal difference of -11 compared to Scottish's -9.
Anything other than a win for Scottish would have meant their fate was out of their hands. Knowing this, they battled hard and kept the Stanislaus strikers at bay for most part of the game before Marven Pereira nodded home the winner in the 43rd minute.
Christ Church, then just needed to avoid defeat to remain in the top division. Instead, they went one better and defeated last year's semi-finalists St Lawrence 1-0 which meant Scottish were relegated.
Scottish coach Adib Kenkre was understandably disappointed but rued the fact that many of his players were injured.
"I am disappointed about the relegation but we had to deal with a lot of injuries and that's one of the main reasons for our dismal campaign. It was a tough pool and we had some issues with the scheduling too. But we haven't scored a single goal in the tournament and I can't give excuses," said Kenkre.
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