24 July,2010 08:02 AM IST | | Husain M Zaidi
After a listless first half, Aurochit's super strike lifts Scottish to dizzy heights vs Xavier's
Bombay Scottish 'A' (Mahim) romped home to their second victory of the season as they thrashed St Xavier's (Fort) 3-0 courtesy goals from Aurochit Patnaik, Nipun Chauhan and Ahsanali Contractor. Scottish now has two wins and a draw in three games played so far.
It was Patnaik, who opened the floodgates for Scottish when he struck a delightful, curling shot to put his name on the scorers' list just after half-time. Soon after, they struck again when strikers Chauhan and Contractor found the net in a span of five minutes to turn the match on its head.
Patnaik, who also plays for Kenkre FC, was ecstatic with his side's display and wants them to continue the good form in the upcoming matches as well.
"The first half wasn't that great as we were just looking to create more space but once we got our first goal it just lifted everyone's confidence and suddenly all of them started playing with more precision," said Patnaik, who won the best player award for the under-14 Kenkre FC side last year.
A Spain fan, Patnaik claims that he got more serious towards the sport when he was selected to play for India under-14. As the only boy selected from Maharashtra, he represented India at the Asian Football Confederation's U-14 festival held in Iran. He started in six games of the tournament featuring nineu00a0 other teams from around the world. Though he couldn't score any himself, the right-winger had an impressive tally of four assists to his name. India finished third in the competition.
A Xavi Hernandez fan, Patnaik gave all credit to his parents and his school in particular who encouraged him to take up the sport professionally. "My parents were always supportive, but my school also backed me a lot. I missed my final exams last year but everyone in my school was very helpful and they wanted me to take my love for the sport to another level," said a buoyant Patnaik.
