St Francis D 'Assisi's Siddharth Nayak leads from the front

After representing his school St Francis D'Assisi (Borivli) for eight years, Siddharth Nayak was rewarded with the captain's arm band this year to lead his side in the Mumbai Schools Sports Association's Boys under-16 inter-school football tournament. And the lad has aptly live up to the responsibility.

The skipper led from the front once again yesterday scoring his first ever hat-trick as his side thrashed Christ Church (Byculla) 4-0 in the penultimate game of their group. They will play their final group match against Cathedral and John Connon (Fort).

Though under cloudy conditions, the match started on a bright note for Borivli side as Christ Church goalkeeper Mehul Kothari gifted them the opening goal. The custodian spilled a straight forward shot from Nayak as the ball went right through his gloves and his legs to roll back in to the net.

Since then, it was no looking back for D'Assisi as they dominating theu00a0 hapless looking Christ Church, who were seen chasing shadows.u00a0u00a0

Nayak says he never really felt any pressure that is normally associated with the captain's role. "I'veu00a0 never really felt any pressure because I have the backing of my players and the coach and that is what matters," said the confident captain, who now has four goals in four games. The 15-year-old central mid-fielder is keen to ensure his school finishes better than last time round, where they ended up third in the standings behind winners Don Bosco (Matunga) and runners-up St Stanislaus (Bandra).

Interestingly, Nayak does not believe in only supplying passes to his strikers but also calls the shots when he has possession of the ball. "Our coach has instructed me to to supply the ball to the strikers but I'm quite keen to take some shots myself too. After all, we shouldn't always rely on our strikers to score," he says rather matter-of-factly.

Meanwhile, in other U-16 Div I matches, last year's runner-up St Stanislaus (Bandra) were held on to a goalless draw by St Dominic Savio (Andheri) while Cathedral and John Connon triumphed over St Anne's (Orlem) 1-0.