MSSA U-16 Division II: Bombay Scottish reach final reclaim Div I spot

Bombay Scottish's Meherzad Sukheshwala (left) and St Lawrence's Nikhil Punjabi battle for the ball during the semis of the MSSA U-16 Div II match at Cooperage ground yesterday. Pic/Suresh Karkera

Riding on decent performances from Pranay Choudhary, Ayaan Desai and Meherzad Sukheshwala, Bombay Scottish School (Mahim) defeated St Lawrence High School (Borivli) 3-0 to reach the final of the Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA)-organised inter-school under-16 Division II football tournament at the Cooperage ground yesterday.

By virtue of reaching the summit clash, the Mahim outfit, who were relegated to Division II after 17 years last year, have now made it back to the elite Division I. "Last year, on the day we were supposed to play St Lawrence High School (Kandivli), the city was paralysed due to heavy rain and the school had declared a holiday. Due to the weather, we had to give a walkover to St Lawrence and we finished last which resulted in our relegation to Division II," former coach Adib Kenkre, who was mentor of Bombay Scottish from 2000 till May this year, told mid-day yesterday.

In a must-win encounter yesterday, it was Bombay Scottish who produced their A game. Head coach of Bombay Scottish, Anthony Fernandes was delighted that his side played according to plan. "All we wanted to do was to put pressure on the opposition. We were successful in doing that," Fernandes told mid-day. Meanwhile, in the other Division II semi-final, Don Bosco 'B' (Matunga) were outplayed 0-1 by St Pius (Mulund). Mid-fielder Tanishq Adrian scored off a deflection from Don Bosco defender Joshua Anthony. With this victory, St Pius have been promoted to Division I for the first time.