20 September,2024 08:12 AM IST | Mumbai | Neeraj Anand
The victorious Gokuldham team with the MSSA Division II trophy in Borivli yesterday. Pic/Anurag Ahire
Defying pre-match predictions, Gokuldham High School (Goregaon) showed great character and fighting qualities in a resolute defensive performance as they stunned an in-form Holy Family High School (Andheri) 5-4 via tie-breaker to win the boys U-16 second division MSSA inter-school football title at the St Francis D'Assisi ground, Borivli, on Thursday.
Gokuldham did well to keep a clean sheet in regulation time despite playing second fiddle for to their much superior opponents for a large part of the game.
Golkuldham however, showed their prowess in the tie-breaker, having won their semi-final match in identical fashion.
Gokuldham's Shubham Sahoo, Dhanush Nair, Sanidhya Pawar, Aarav Lad and Neil Vardam were on target in the final shootout. For Holy Family, who enjoyed the better of the exchanges throughout and had more possession, Dhairya Tank, Aarav Karale, Rachit Madhav and Zac Pinto converted in the tie-breaker. Both teams qualified for the first division next season.
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It was a cagey start for both teams but soon Holy Family began to control the midfield and looked the more threatening of the two with their build-up play, but their work in the final third was not clinical enough.
The Gokuldham defence meanwhile were well organised, kept it simple and quickly cleared their lines whenever their opponents neared the danger area. Holy Family were unlucky not to snatch the winner in the closing stages when Dhairya's fine strike from inside the box found the crossbar.
"I'm happy with the way my team played today, but we could have attacked a lot better. Overall, our defence was very disciplined and stuck to the game plan," Gokuldham's Nigerian coach Constantine Egbele told mid-day.
Holy Family coach, Lindon Pinto rued his team's missed chances. "We had our chances in the game, both in open play and in set-piece situations, but were not able to take them. Our passing needed to be much sharper, especially in the final third. We were also unlucky to hit that post towards the end of the match," said Pinto.
