MSSA U-14: Don Bosco beat Francis D'Assisi in battle of Borivli rivals

St Francis D'Assisi's Siddhant Shetty (left) tackles Don Bosco's Aaron Pinto during the MSSA inter-school U-14 Utpal Sanghvi tournament at Azad Maidan on Saturday. Pic/Suresh Karkera

St Francis D'Assisi's Siddhant Shetty (left) tackles Don Bosco's Aaron Pinto during the MSSA inter-school U-14 Utpal Sanghvi tournament at Azad Maidan on Saturday. Pic/Suresh Karkera

Don Bosco's (Borivli) central defender-turned-striker Aaron Pinto scored two goals on Saturday to stun their Borivli rivals St Francis D'Assisi 3-1 and reach the Round of 16 of the U-14 boys MSSA Utpal Sanghvi knockout inter-school tournament at Azad Maidan.

Aaron's attacking display
Aaron, who plays as a central defender, justified his coach Melville Fernandes' decision to push him forward with a scintillating display. The match started with Don Bosco playing at a frenetic pace, which D'Assisi couldn't handle and conceded shortly after when Aaron latched onto a Raul Almedia through pass before expertly slotting it past D'Assisi 'keeper Vedant Nagvekar. The Bosco boys kept up the pressure and scored a few minutes later through Vaibhav Dewlakar's deflected shot.

D'Assisi pulled one goal back through an indirect freekick, blasted home by Kushal Makwana. This lifted D'Assisi's spirit and they began express themselves better, but it was the Bosco boys who added a third goal through with Aaron heading home for 3-1. Coach Fernandes was proud that they could beat the mighty Francis D'Assisi.

Sweet victory for Bosco
"Our defence played really well. D'Assisi are a Division-I side which makes this victory all the more sweet," he said. When asked about Aaron's positional, Fernandes said he knew he would excel as centre-forward given his pace: "I changed his position a few matches ago because he has the speed to be a good striker."