03 August,2016 07:15 AM IST | | Narendra Sastry
St Francis D'Assisi beat fellow Borivli rivals Don Bosco 2-1 to go atop of pool 'B' in the Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) U-16 Div I inter-school football tournament at St Xavier's ground, Parel yesterday
Johnson Mathews
St Francis D'Assisi beat fellow Borivli rivals Don Bosco 2-1 to go atop of pool 'B' in the Mumbai Schools Sports Association (MSSA) U-16 Div I inter-school football tournament at St Xavier's ground, Parel yesterday.
St Francis D'Assisi piled on the pressure right from the start and were aptly rewarded with a goal. Skipper Johnson Mathews showed his creativity right with a neat pass that found teammate Harsh Dekhale, who made no mistake, tapping into an
empty net.
Last year's semi finalists, D'Assisi doubled their lead four minutes later. This time Johnson showed tremendous composure and skill inside the opposition as he finished with his weaker left foot. Don Bosco boys pulled one back in the 29th minute when Sahil Sawant's free-kick found the back of the net. In the second half, the Bosco boys tried hard for the equaliser but the D'Assisi defence stood firm.
Johnson has scored three goals in six games so far, and has been the creative outlet for D'Assisi. After the match, he was quite happy with his performance but was in a hurry as they had another match to play in the Subroto Mukherjee tournament an hour later in Chembur.
D'Assisi currently occupy the top spot in pool 'B' with 13 points from six games. Don Bosco (Matunga) are second, with 10 points from four games, while St Stanislaus (Bandra) have nine points from three games. D'Assisi's final fixture is against the Matunga side who are on a roll with 13 goals so far. The Borivli boys have to win if they wish to qualify for the playoffs, and Joshnson is confident they will: "I am happy with my performance so far, and I believe we can qualify for the playoffs."
