MUMBAI, Aug 5: It was a good day for St Mary's (ISC) in the Colgate Palmolive-sponsored Inter-School football league. Their under-14 team just about defeated Udayachal by a solitary goal and their under-16 outfit swamped New Era 9-0 at the St Xavier's ground, Parel, today.In yet another encounter, Fatima (Sewri) trounced Garodia 3-0 after leading 2-0 at half-time in the under-14 III-H match.
The under-14 I-D tie between St Mary's A and Udayachal was an absorbing affair. St Mary's settled down easily and began pounding the Udayachal defence. Udayachal admirably withstood the pressure. Once when their goalkeeper Rajkumar Walmiki was beaten by a Brian Gia attempt defender Sunil Kudchikar neatly brought off a goal-line save.
Udayachal, displaying fine football sense, took the battle into the rival territory. But unfortunately for them, their citadel fell just when they had things well under control. A lapse by goalkeeper Rajkumar Walmiki, who missed to clear the ball, saw a half-hearted try by Mary'sstriker Brian Gia gradually find the target in the 20th minute.
On resumption, Udayachal pressed hard in a sustained manner and deserved a point at least. But their forwards missed a couple of sitters. Once when striker Sujeet Sukumaran was ideally placed to score, Mary's goalkeeper Sameer Bengali thwarted the danger by daringly diving at the striker Sujeet's feet and collecting the ball. With that save late in the game went Udayachal's hopes of a goal.
Mary's C had things their own way against New Era in the under-16 IV-H fixture. In fact, it was a slaughter of the innocents. Mary's crossed over with a match-winning 3-0 lead and then pumped in six more goals in the second half.
Dhruv Kotak (2), Suratna Das (2), Rehan Patel, Sajjad Meherali, Amit Saldanha, Akshay Kulkarni and Tarun Kapadia were the goal-getters for Mary's. Coach Malcolm Estibeiro, ex-Air India and UBI left-winger, expressed satisfaction with his teams performances.
Fatima, who began the league shakily, gave an improved display intheir under-14 III H tussle against Garodia. ``The secret behind their success was observing other teams in action at the St Xavier's ground,'' disclosed their Sports-in-charge Anthony Rodrigues.
Ajay Pillai, Ravi Dwaldin and captain Amit Kamble scored in that order for Fatima.
THE NET SCAPERS
Brian Gia
Age: 12 years.
School: Standard VIII, St Mary's ISC
Goals scored: one (match-winner)
High point: displayed good dash when scoring the all-important goal.
Idol: Paulo Maldini (Italy).
Coach: Malcolm Estibeiro, ex-Air-India and Union Bank left-winger.
Ajay Pillai
Age: 13 years. gave his team the lead.
School: Standard VI, Fatima (Sewri).
Goals scored: one
High point: Showed good opportunism while scoring off a goalmouth melee, which opened the account for his team
Idol: Ronaldo (Brazil)
School coach: Anthony Rodrigues.
Ravi Dwaldin
Age: 13 years
School: Standard VIII, Fatima (Sewri).
Goals scored: one
High point: Exhibiting good control in the forward line, scoredonce and set up another goal.
Idol: Ronaldo.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
