MSSA news: Abaar, Arjun hat-trick as Christ Church, Scottish win easy

Action from the MSSA U-16 Division-I match between Christ Church (in orange) and St Lawrence (Kandivli) at the St Francis D’Assisi High School ground in Borivli yesterday. Pics/Satej Shinde

Abdaar Chashmawala, 15, recorded the tournament's first hat-trick, leading Christ Church (Byculla) to a fluent 4-0 win against St Lawrence HS (Kandivli) in a boys U-16 Div-I match of the MSSA inter-school football tournament at the St Francis D'Assisi HS ground, Borivli on Monday.

Muhammad Mojawala converted a penalty in the 17th minute to give Christ Church a 1-0 half-time lead and on resumption, Abdar scored thrice to complete the tally. "I did not expect to score so many goals, especially after missing an easy chance late in the first half. But, words of encouragement from my captain [Abizeer Manasawala] and my coach [Ranzie Kalicharan] during the break, lifted my spirits. My cousin Muhammad assisted me with two of the three goals," Abdaar said. Meanwhile, Arjun Jhaveri also notched up a hat-trick as Bombay Scottish (Mahim) beat hosts St Francis D'Assisi 5-1.

Abdaar Chashmawala

Scottish skipper Aadiv Das scored the opener after which Arjun netted twice before Arnav Kashikar scored the fourth just before the interval. On resumption, Arjun completed his hat-trick, firing in the team's fifth goal earlier, defending champions Don Bosco (Matunga) made a positive start as they recovered to defeat arch-rivals St Mary's ICSE (Mazgaon) 3-1. Dev Dewoolkar scored the equaliser for Don Bosco, cancelling Aaron Corderio's opening strike for St Mary's. Skipper Yohan Panjuani then slotted home a second-half brace as the Bosco boys emerged victorious.

Also Read: MSSA news: Don Bosco, Scottish ooze confidence as football resumes

In the first match of the day, St Stanislaus (Bandra) struck two early goals, through Ameer Mozayan and Reuben Parmar, to overcome Army Public School (Colaba) 2-0. In another match. Cathedral & John Connon (Fort) and St Joseph's Secondary School (Malad) played out a goalless draw.

With inputs from Shaun Suvarna