In the end,it was St Stephen's Football Academy who had the last laugh after outplaying newcomers Chandigarh Police Football Academy 4-0 in the semi-finals to enter the final of the Coca Cola Mir Iqbal Hussain Trophy for Under-15 boys Football Tournament held at the Sector 17 Football stadium on Thursday. Playing in their first semi-final for perhaps the first time,Chandigarh Police Football Academy received a jolt when St Stephen's took lead in the second minute of the match. Trying to block a shot from a Stephen's player,CPFA goalkeeper failed to keep the ball and a pouncing Jimmy latched onto it and steered it inside the empty goal. Down by one goal,the players of newly formed club found it hard to find their feet as Stephen's maintained their attack. The CPFA defence crumbled under pressure and Anshul took full advantage of it and doubled the lead with a well-taken shot. Stephen's walked into the break with a 3-0 lead after Suraj Thappa's scored just before the breather. Jasbir rounded off the tally with his goal in the 40th minute to help Stephen's cruise into the final. Meanwhile,in another semi-final match played on the same ground,St John's School,Sector 26 boys displayed their skills to thrash DAV Senior Secondary School,Sector 8,by a margin of 4-0 to book a berth in the final. Left winger Harshit caused maximum damage to the DAV-8 team with two goals. Showing great control over the ball,Harshit's neatly taken crosses spelt doom in the opposition territory. He opened the account for his team in the eighth minute with a left footer. If his first goal had class written all over it then his second goal removed all doubts of the cynics. A curling free-kick which sailed into the top left of the net left the opposition keeper dumbstruck. Manraj made it 3-0 for the team,while Sarfraz scored in the 50th minute after dribbling past a couple of defenders and guiding the ball past an advancing DAV-8 goalkeeper.
