Reuben rides to the rescue

The victorious Bombay Scottish U-16 side with the Ahmed Sailor Cup at the St Francis D’Assisi ground, Borivli, on Wednesday. Pics/Nimesh Dave

Showing great mental fortitude and gumption, Bombay Scottish (Mahim) secured their first silverware of the season, winning the boys U-16 MSSA Ahmed Sailor Cup football title at St Francis D'Assisi ground, Borivli, on Wednesday. The Scottish lads rallied from a goal down to beat Cathedral & John Connon (Fort) 2-1. Cathedral took the lead in the 10th minute through their captain Rian Uniyal, who converted a penalty, after Scottish centre-back Yashvir Shah was shown the red card for handling a goal-bound ball.

Goal scorers Reuben Thomas (left) and Yash Kapadia

The Mahim lads tried hard thereafter but failed to find the equaliser in the first half. On resumption, Scottish enjoyed more ball possession and their persistent efforts paid dividends when they scored two goals in the last 10 minutes to script a remarkable turnaround. Winger Reuben Thomas turned out to be the chief architect of the win. Reuben first found the equaliser and then provided a fine assist for Yash Kapadia to score the match-winner following a superb counterattack down the left flank.

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‘We executed plans perfectly'

"What impressed me most is the character and the mentality shown by the boys. In the first half, we did not play well, but in the second, we executed our plans perfectly despite being a man down and a goal down," an elated Scottish coach Fahad Ansari told mid-day.

Cathedral coach slams MSSA

Cathedral coach Jayesh Solanki blamed MSSA's scheduling for his team's defeat. "Five of our main players played back-to-back basketball matches before coming to this final. The fatigue factor played a huge role here, particularly in the second half. The organisers [MSSA] need to look at proper scheduling of these inter-school matches. It's sad for these players as they have worked so hard to reach this final," he said.

Earlier, Chatrabhuj Narsee School (Kandivli) won the third place, beating St Joseph Secondary (Orlem) 5-3 via tie-breaker. Aarav Naik, Samit Mandhare, Anirvinya Sarkar, Soham D'Mello and Aritra Upadhyay converted their spot-kicks for CNS while Kaab Morriswala, Jess Bhobe and Ibrahim Mohsin were on target for the Orlem school.