St Francis’ Bhushan scores fastest MSSA goal in football

St Francis' Bhushan scores fastest MSSA goal in football

St Francis D'Assisi (Borivli) striker Bhushan Kanchan yesterday scored the fastest goal in Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) history, scoring just 15 seconds after kick-off in the Ahmed Sailor knockout semi-final at Azad Maidan.

Bhushan Kanchan. PIC/Atul Kamble

Maneckji Cooper wereu00a0 caught napping as Bhushan ran through the team unchallenged from the first pass of the game, that came off the centre start. Bhushan's darting run set the tone of the game in favour of St Francis, who won the encounter 2-1.

"I still cannot believe that I have scored in just 15 seconds. I'm very surprised," said Bhushan. "After I got the ball from Clive (Patel), I thought of passing to my other colleague, but when I realised that there was no one from the opposite team to defend the goal, I decided to try and score myself," added the 14-year-old striker, who used to play in goal during U-8 competitions.

"I was not enjoying goalkeeping and requested my coach three years back to allow me to play as a forward."
Referee Rosario Fernandes,u00a0 who has been officiating MSSA matches for the last 12 years, said: "I have seen many quick goals in National tournaments but was surprised to see Bhushan score a goal so fast at inter-school level."

MSSA football secretary Xavier Faria confirmed Bhushan's goal was the fastest in MSSA history. "I have never seen anyone scoring so quick at inter-school level. This is the fastest at MSSA," said Faria. Clive Patel scored the winner for St Francis D'Assisi, after captain Dave Deohans drewu00a0 Maneckji Cooper level. In the other semi-final, Don Bosco (Matunga) beat St Stanislaus (Bandra) 2-1.