After warming the bench as a substitute for the past two seasons, midfielder Alkabeer scores fine long-range goal which helped Lilavatibai Podar Senior Secondary school beat St Xavier's 1-0 to lift MSSA Div III inter-school football trophy
The Lilavatibai Podar Senior Secondary school team pose with the Div III trophy yesterday. Pic/Suresh Karkera
After warming the bench as a substitute for the past two seasons, midfielder Alkabeer Mohammad displayed his true colours with a fine long-range goal which helped his side Lilavatibai Podar Senior Secondary school (Santacruz) beat St Xavier's (Borivali) 1-0 to lift the Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) Div III inter-school football trophy at Azad Maidan yesterday.
The Lilavatibai Podar Senior Secondary school team pose with the Div III trophy yesterday. Pic/Suresh Karkera
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It was Lilavati Podar who dominated the match, which also drew terrific saves from St Xavier's ‘keeper Jitendra Singh. The Borivali outfit rarely threatened the Podar backline despite pushing hard.
Lilavati score
Alkabeer scored the winner in the 25th minute with a brilliant turn and finish from just outside the box. The young lad was ecstatic to score the winning goal in the final, which was also his first in the tournament. “I am really happy it came in the final. My teammates challenged to score today as I had not scored, and yet I delivered. I was a sub for the last two years. This was my first tournament as a starter and to contribute like that is amazing,” Alkabeer told mid-day.
With both sides already promoted, there were concerns whether the teams would show enough hunger. But that wasn’t the case as they went hard in an attempt to get their hands on the coveted crown. Lilavatibai Podar coach Amit Patel did not expect his side to win the tournament. It was only when his side reached the knockout stages that they really started believing.
“It is an amazing feeling. We had missed out on promotion last year by losing in the quarter-finals. We did not really expect to win it before the tournament began, but the belief grew slowly,” Patel added.
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