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St Lawrence's Shubham Pokharhar score in the penalty shoot-out |
Their Borivli school won the inter-school Nike-MSSA U-14 Div II title, while their Kandivli branch clinched third place in the same category. St Lawrence, Borivli came from behind to beat Utpal Sanghvi 7-5 via tie-breaker for the title, while St Lawrence, Kandivli beat Cathedral and John Conon 3-1 for the third spot.
Close final
The final was a pulsating encounter. Things looked quiet good for Utpal Sanghvi after Tabish Ansari and Abhishek Degadwala gave them a two-goal lead but Lawrence's Shubham Pokharhar had other ideas. He scored a brace in quick succession to level the score.
Thereafter, his teammate Ratan Deora hit the back of the net from a brilliant free-kick to give Lawrence the lead. But Shams Patel equalised late to take the match into the tie-breaker. Lawrence held on to their nerves in the shoot-out to emerge 7-5 winners.
Lawrence coach Syed Yeasin said: "It was a very tough match but after being two goals down, I still had some hope of a win.
"So, during the break I told my boys to forget the past and fight for victory.
Team target
"Our team was lacking concentration in the first half but managed to find our rhythm in the second session. I'm really happy after achieving my target of taking the teams into the first division."
"This team has been playing together since U-10 so they complement each other well. We were also winners in the U-12, so I'm lucky to have a good set of players.
"Our striker Shubham was excellent. I'm sure he'll play professional football in future" Syed added.
Utpal Sanghvi's coach Umesh Shamraj was disappointed.
"I was very confident of winning this. After we were in the lead we took it easy. That's what made the difference."
Double goal-scorer Shubham said: "Since we have been practising penalties we were confident in the shoot-out."
For Video:- http://www.mid-day.com/news/2008/oct/071008-Video-St-Lawrence-Borivli-won-the-inter-school-Nike-MSSA-U-14-Div-II-title.htm
